


You Are A Memory

by Exen44



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I don't know how tags work, Implied Relationships, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-10-22 09:10:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17659877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exen44/pseuds/Exen44
Summary: "I won't leave you. Not this time."A look into the mindset of Vader and Ahsoka during their final confrontation, as well as the canon-divergent aftermath.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the end of one of the greatest TCW music videos ever made '[SW] Anakin & Ahsoka; You are a memory' by iamyourpathos. If you haven't seen it already, I suggest you do. You don't know what you're missing. I'm not sure how far I'll go with this, or whether I'll expand it to include a romantic relationship between Vader and Ahsoka so I'll leave the relationship tag there in case I do. For now, it's a one-shot.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction, so go easy on me.

Dread. Fear. Anger. Resolve. He could feel it radiating off the child in waves as his tie fighter descended down to meet with the novice Force user while he stood on top of it with lightsaber in hand, his cape fluttering in the wind as he narrowed his gaze onto the child lit up by the spotlight of his ship. The boy’s expression turned to one of determination as the ship hovered just above the platform. A voice, a distant memory from a life past resonated through his mind at the sight of the child standing his ground: ‘Brave of you boy, but I would’ve thought you’d learned your lesson.’ The memory flooded his body with renewed hatred.

He leaped off his starfighter as he came crashing down with his lightsaber towards the boy, the child barely managing to ignite his lightsaber and backpedal from underneath the force of his blow. The boy continued to back up as he rose to his full height, easily towering over the diminutive child. He advanced slowly towards him, peering down at him. “You have unlocked the secret of the temple. How did you accomplish this?” The boy came to a halt, digging his feet into the ground. “You’re smart, figure it out!” The boy brought his lightsaber back in preparation for a swing, giving away his intention. Lazily, he brought his lightsaber up to deflect his, batting away his swings with ease.

 _‘Pathetic’,_ he thought to himself as the boy continued to back away from him. He advanced accordingly. “No matter. The power within will soon serve the Emperor.” He craned his head to look down at him the best he could with the limitations of his suit. “I don’t fear you.” He scoffed to himself internally. “Then you will die braver than most.” He brought his lightsaber crashing down on top of him, the boy’s lightsaber rising to meet his swing, nearly fumbling under the weight of the blow. With a flurry of swings, he beat the child back before knocking aside his lightsaber with a horizontal swing and bringing his back around to slice the hilt of the boy’s lightsaber, cutting it in half as the kid went flying backwards onto the ground.

The boy desperately crawled back the best he could, looking down at the broken hilt of his lightsaber before looking up at him in visible fear. “Perhaps I was wrong.” He raised his lightsaber to deliver the killing blow. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” The voice was like from a distant memory. From a past life. Foreign, yet familiar. He turned to face her. _Her_. It was like looking at a ghost. Just the sight of her threatened to bring back feelings from a person long dead. He buried it.

“It was foretold that you would be here. Our long-awaited meeting has come at last.” His voice was detached, cold. Any semblance of feeling easily masked by the distortion of his voice thanks to his mechanical mask. “I’m glad I gave you something to look forward to.” He turned off his lightsaber, paying no heed to the crumpled form of the child behind him. He was no threat. “We need not be adversaries. The Emperor will show you mercy, if you tell me where the remaining Jedi can be found.” Her posture was open, yet cautious. “There are no Jedi. You and your inquisitors have seen to that.” His anger flared at her refusal to cooperate, yet it was indistinguishable underneath the already existing torrents of hatred and anger underneath his cold demeanor.

He turned to look down at the child still lying on the floor. “Perhaps this child will confess what you will not.” The boy’s eyes shot wide open in fear, peering up at him as he desperately tried to put distance between them. “I was beginning to believe I knew who you were, behind that mask. But it’s impossible. My master could never be as vile as you!” The mention of her former master was enough to make his blood boil, turning yet again to confront her, the tone of his voice filled with loathing. “Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him.” Her eyes momentarily closed, her expression one of sadness, before being replaced with one of anger as her eyes opened once more.

“Then I will avenge his death.” His finger brushed up the hilt of his lightsaber to rest on the button to turn on his lightsaber. “Revenge is not the Jedi way.” There was a brief pause. A moment of silence between them with only the humming of the temple to fill the room. “I am no Jedi.”

 

** Ahsoka **

She ignited her lightsabers as she settled into her usual fighting stance, cautiously studying the towering form of her former master. No, of Darth Vader. She didn’t recognize the man before her. There was nothing left of her master. The person she held in such high-esteem. The person who trained her, guided her, took care of her. The person she…

Her line of thinking was cut off at the sound of Vader’s crimson lightsaber igniting, the joined hum of their lightsabers resonating throughout the room, echoing to every corner of the temple. She watched as he gripped his lightsaber with both hands and brought it to bare in front of him, covering his midsection cautiously. She remembered her training, and she would use it to destroy the person who killed her master.

The control panel on his chest must be his weakness. Narrowing her eyes in determination, she rushed forward with impressive speed, invigorated with purpose as she swung her lightsabers in tandem, each flurry of blows followed quickly by another to support her strikes and cover her flank. Having two lightsabers was an advantage she intended to exploit. Each swing of her lightsabers was met with Vader’s, one lightsaber tactically batted aside to protect himself from her follow-up strike with the other. His fighting style was cautious, protective. He knew exactly how to compensate against a dual-wielding opponent. So much for that advantage. He made no effort to go on the offensive, only protecting himself from her blows. It was like fighting a completely different person. She recognized nothing of her old master within his fighting style.

She quickly attempted to overwhelm him with a quick flurry of strikes, her lightsaber turning into a blur of white light as she advanced on him. His defense didn’t falter. She ducked under a horizontal swing, the Force invigorating her as she called on it to fill her before sending Vader back with a powerful Force Push, causing him to slide back along the ground, hunched over in a crouched position. Seizing the opportunity, she leaped up into the air using the Force and brought her lightsabers crashing down on top of him, only for him to deflect and push her off behind him. Her Force attuned reflexes sensed his lightsaber swinging towards her and she quickly ducked, blocking the follow-up downwards swing with both lightsabers.

Suddenly he went on the offensive, swinging his lightsaber with brutal efficiency towards her, as she had the feeling each swing was precisely meant to end her in one blow. She ducked, swerved, and flipped to avoid his swings. She refused to let him force her into the defensive. She seized every opportunity between his swings to return to the offensive, but it was no use. It was like he knew her every move before she made it. After all, this was the man who taught her everything she knows. Or it used to be. She had to improvise. She changed her fighting style the best she could to compensate, but still she was beaten back. It dawned on her that he had been studying her at the beginning when he was on the defensive, examining her fighting style.

She didn’t know how to proceed. His form was unknown to her. It was no longer reckless like her former master. He’d exchanged recklessness for ruthlessness. Every swing of his lightsaber was aimed with deadly intent. If you so much as failed to avoid one swing, it’d be the end of you. The rest of the fight continued much the same. Her desperately trying to go on the offensive, only to be beaten back. Almost all of her energy was spent simply trying to defend herself from his blows.

She continued to backpedal, deflecting and dodging his blows while occasionally throwing one of her own to no effect. Before she knew it he had her backed up to the ledge of the temple and trapped in a saber lock. She pushed back with all her might, the Force fortifying her strength past her normal limitations to stop him from pushing her back. A flurry of red light and she faltered for a split second, which was enough opening for Vader to push her off the edge with the Force. She desperately clambered for purchase to slow her fall, plunging her lightsabers into the temple wall and sliding down a lot faster than she wanted to. Her legs made contact with the floor below at fast enough velocity to break the bones of anyone if not for the Force dampening her fall. She picked herself up from the ground and looked up towards where she’d been pushed. If Vader was still there, he was too far away for her to tell.

She took a deep breath as she allowed to Force to flow through her before bursting forward with supernatural speed, scaling her way up the temple wall as fast as she possibly could. Finally, she grabbed onto the ledge and hoisted herself up, sprinting towards the center of the temple where Ezra had been. She saw Vader with his hand outstretched towards Ezra, with Kanan desperately clutching onto his arm to keep him from being pulled. Her vision turned red. She sprinted towards Vader as he began to slowly turn. She leaped onto his chest, batting aside his lightsaber as he was caught off guard while swinging the other one upwards into his face before lunging forward away from him.

She wasn’t even sure where she hit him, or whether she hit him at all, except for the yelp of pain she heard from Vader when her lightsaber made contact. She thought she heard the muffled voice of Ezra calling for her, but she wasn’t sure. Everything felt distant. Slowly, she pushed herself up onto all fours as she tried to recover.

“Ahsoka.”

She froze. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. Her heart skipped a beat. Her chest felt like it had just been crushed underneath the weight of Vader’s mechanical fist with just his voice alone. Or rather Anakin’s voice, partially distorted by the remainder of Vader’s mask. Everything suddenly went quiet. The trembling of the temple, the bits of debris hitting the ground. She heard none of it. All she heard was the sound of his wheezing breath, horribly distorted by the mask’s damaged vocoder. Hesitantly, she turned to face him. There Vader was, kneeling on the floor. Slowly, he turned to look her. Not Vader. But Anakin. “Ahsoka.”

One half of the faceplate was shattered, the sides of the gash in his mask scorched and blazing from the blow of her lightsaber. And beneath it, Anakin. His eye was the golden hue of the Sith corruption, rimmed by the blood red circle that made it that more menacing. But it was still Anakin. Her heart lurched in her chest at the sight. “Anakin..” She stood up and looked down at the hunched over mechanical figure as he slowly rose to his full height to meet her.

_Ahsoka. Why did you leave? Do you know, what I’ve become?_

The memory of those words reaffirmed what she knew she had to do. “I won’t leave you! Not this time.”

_I would never let anyone hurt you, Ahsoka, never._

His eyes narrowed, and his expression scrunched up, displaying a hundred micro expressions all at once too fast and too miniscule to count. She opened herself up to the Force and reached out to him through the tattered remains of their old Force bond and was overwhelmed by the flood of conflicting emotions that came crashing down on top of her. Anger, regret, loneliness, sadness, desperation, self-loathing, depression, and a dozen more she couldn’t identify before finally settling for one; blazing hatred.

 _Trust me_.

“Then you will die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this fanfiction basically serves as practice for future fanfictions, as I've never written one before, and I need to get myself into the mindset for future ones. I'll probably expand on this story, as I do love Anakin/Ahsoka or Vader/Ahsoka. But for now, it's as is. If you'd be interested in a continuation, do let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn't entirely sure where I was going to go with this story, and too be honest I'm still not, but I was suddenly struck with inspiration to try and write more. As of me writing this note, I haven't even started the story, so I'm as much in the dark as you are right now. We'll obviously be diverging from canon now, since there's no other way for me to continue it. In any case, enjoy and let me know if you like it.

Her eyes shot open, only to be blinded by sharp rays of fluorescent lights. Her head felt heavy, her vision was blurred, and her memories hazy. Her body ached all over as if she’d been hit by a freight train, and all her muscles felt beyond sore as if she’d pushed her body way past her limits and was now paying for it. She moved to shield her eyes from the blinding light, but her hand wouldn’t budge. She swept her half-lidded gaze across whatever room she was currently in. She could barely make out anything, some blurry shapes and washed out colors, but little else. She narrowed her gaze as she tried to focus her eyes. Slowly she began to make out the details of her surroundings. The room was barren of almost any furniture, the walls and floors a depressing mixture of black and gray with occasional streaks of red.

She craned her head forward, looking down at herself to notice herself strapped onto what she could only assume to be an interrogation table, her wrists and feet shackled in place by bits of metal. But what completely drew her attention was the towering form of Anakin across the room from her, once more he was every bit Vader. His mechanical suit had been repaired or replaced, and she forced herself not to look away from under the scrutiny of Vader’s intense gaze, her bruised and scarred body reflected in the red visors of his mask. She steadied herself and parted her dry and chapped lips to speak, only for her words to catch in her throat, letting out a guttural, croaked sound. She was utterly parched. She dropped her head back against the table to support her head, her eyes flickering shut in exhaustion.

She felt something cold touch her lips, her eyes partially opening to see Vader’s gloved hand holding a glass of water against her mouth. She gratefully parted her lips to accept it, greedily gulping down and savoring the cold liquid as it flowed down her throat. She felt the glass tilt back to stop the flow of water before being pulled back. She kept her eyes closed for a moment longer before opening them once more to look at him. He was simply staring at her in silence, standing patiently just a couple of feet away from her, eyeing her curiously. It was equally unnerving as it was weird. After an extended moment she cut off the silence. “Where am I?”

No reply. The eerie silence passed through the room, filled only with the intimidating mechanical breathing from Vader’s mask and she thought for a moment he wouldn’t answer. “You’re my guest.” His voice was once again deep and rough, Anakin’s alluring voice no longer distinguishable within the tone of his cold, synthetic voice. She barely processed his words, her mind still hazy.

She felt like she was fading in and out of consciousness, barely managing to keep her eyes open through sheer willpower alone. Why was the room spinning? She felt dizzy, but she powered through it, briskly shaking her head to clear her head. She opened her mouth to ask the one question still clear in the fog of her mind. “Why did you save me..?” She barely recognized her own voice with how weakly she spoke.

“Why.. Why did you..” Her vision went black.

-

_She opened her eyes. Darkness. All around her was nothing but darkness. She looked down at her feet. She was standing on nothing but blackness. The ground didn’t feel solid. Her feet didn’t feel like it was touching the ground, yet she was standing. She looked around, desperately trying to make sense of the situation. If she had hair it might’ve stood up from her body at the sound of a lightsaber igniting. A cold shiver traveled down her spine and she quickly spun around. The darkness was partially lit up by the red hue of what she saw was Vader’s lightsaber. He was standing there, but he was facing away from her. She looked towards where he was looking, and what she saw turned the blood in her veins to ice. She saw herself standing across from Vader, her eyes narrowed in determination. He walked towards her._

_“Ahsoka!”_

_She looked towards where the source of the voice originated from but saw nothing. Suddenly she saw herself spin around and push her hand out towards the darkness behind her. She felt the Force emit from her counterpart’s palm towards the nothingness behind her before she quickly ignited both her lightsabers and raised them behind her head to block Vader’s downwards strike. She heard the voice again, but it was even more distant. She couldn’t make it out. She turned her attention back to the fight. It was surreal. Watching herself fight Vader from an outside perspective. She tried to move, but her feet wouldn’t budge. She watched on helplessly. Flashes of white and red flowing fluently through the air like a light show. Saber clashing against saber. Flurry after flurry._

_She observed as the two fought on, exchanging blows to no effect. Vader hammered his lightsaber mercilessly towards her, more aggressive than he had been before until their lightsabers once again met in a saber lock, Vader pushing his weight down onto her as her legs began to give out from under her. She almost fell back when a burst of white lightning erupted from the ground, crackling all around the room, her attention momentarily diverted from the fight between Vader and her counterpart. Red shards fell down from the darkness above, a fog of purple dark side energy filling the room from out of nowhere. Her defense was buckling. She was losing._

_Her counterpart reached out with her remaining energy and pushed Vader back with a quick burst of the Force, backing up as she spun her lightsabers before stabbing them into the blackness beneath her. Cracks of white light began to form in the ground. She saw Vader raise his lightsaber to deliver the killing blow, and suddenly she was falling. Not just her counterpart, but her also. She spun around helplessly in the air, reaching out towards the darkness to slow her fall to no avail. Suddenly she hit the ground. It didn’t hurt. It felt like falling into a cloud of pillows. Slowly, she raised herself to her feet, spinning around to look in every direction until spotting him. Vader. Pushing himself off from the ground, and at his feet, her twin. A helpless heap on the floor, unconscious. He walked closer to her, his gloved augmented hand tightly gripping the hilt of his lightsaber. His hand hovered over the power button as he looked down at her crumpled form._

_The hum of his lightsaber suddenly filled the room as he ignited it, accompanied only by the horrendous sound of the mechanical wheezing from his broken mask. He held his lightsaber out above her with one hand, the blade hovering just a few inches above her body. A moment passed, and suddenly the lightsaber turned off. He clipped his lightsaber to his belt and knelt down, scooping up her lightsabers into one hand before picking up her unmoving form and lifting her into his arms, turning as he began to walk off._

_“Wait, Anakin!” She cried out towards the disappearing form. To her surprise, he suddenly stopped, he turned and looked over his shoulder towards her. She froze in place, looking at him pleadingly through the tears in her eyes._

_“Anakin?”_

_He looked around her, but not at her. He couldn’t see her. He turned away once more and walked off._

_“No! Anakin! Wait! Anak..”_

_Her own voice began to fade out. She could barely hear herself. She desperately shouted for him not to leave, but to no avail. Suddenly she felt like she was being pulled back. While Vader walked in one direction, she floated in the other. She reached out with her hand. She reached for him. But she couldn’t reach him. She could only watch helplessly as he disappeared into the darkness._

_She couldn’t reach him._

** Vader **

_Why did you save me?_

The words echoed in his mind as he sat in his meditation chamber, wallowing in his own misery. He opened his eyes, his vision no longer filtered by the red hue of the mask’s visors. But still he saw red. It’s like the color was permanently etched into his mind, his eyes reprogrammed to never see the world again as it is. He lifted a gloved hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, the cold leather pleasant to the touch. He let out a raspy exhale of breath, the adrenaline from his constant state of anger keeping him awake. He didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. The suit set fire to his nerves, his nervous system in a constant flux of pain which helped stoke the flames of anger in his body, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

_Why did you save me?_

Luckily she’d passed out before he could even begin to think of an answer. He had some of his more trusted employees see to her condition and heal her. They would never talk. It’s amazing what the threat of a violent death can accomplish. He’d kill them once they had served their purpose anyway, so it did not matter. They were inconsequential.

His mind took him back to that moment. Standing above her unmoving body, the familiar hilt of his lightsaber in hand. He could’ve ended her then. But he didn’t. He wasn’t sure he knew why. She was a memento of a person that was dead. He should’ve snuffed out the remaining embers that tied him to the person that was Anakin Skywalker. But in that moment, as he looked down at her matured and beautiful face, he faltered. He hesitated. He never hesitated. She’d truly grown since he’d last seen her. No longer was she the young, overeager Padawan looking to make her mark on the world and prove herself. No, she had already proved herself.

Now she was a woman grown. And for some reason he’d let himself notice it. The curves of her body were now even more noticeable than they had been now that she’d grown taller. Even in the red of his vision he could still picture the beautiful, aesthetically pleasing color of her orange skin. He remembered how it felt against the skin of his non-mechanical hand, soft and smooth. He would never again experience that feeling, and it filled him with immense hatred. He clenched his mechanical hand in anger at the thought. Her montrals had grown also, and her lekku to match. Her bosom and hips had filled out very nicely, her stature made more curvaceous than petite because of it. His blood began to pump faster as he recalled that part of his examination.  A primal urge roared inside him. To have her. To take her. To make her his. To warp her mind and body to serve him as he pleased.

He quelled the throb of his sadistic urges at the prospect. He wasn’t supposed to have that primal urge anymore. His sexual appetites had disappeared that day on Mustafar after Padmé died. And Ahsoka had brought it back. He cursed to himself internally. He didn’t have time to have those feelings. Yet believing that he’d only saved her because of those feelings was a lot more preferable to the truth.

That a part of Anakin Skywalker lived, and that Ahsoka is the reason it’s alive. In order to destroy that part of him once and for all, he had to kill her. And he wasn’t sure he had the strength to do it.

He closed his eyes.

-

_“They’re asking you back, Ahsoka. **I’m** asking you back.” _

_I outstretched my hand towards her, her beads in my hand. She closes it._

_“I’m sorry, master. But I’m not coming back.”_

_She leaves. I run after her. I have to._

_“Ahsoka, wait! Ahsoka, I need to talk to you!”_

_She stops. I reach her._

_“Why, are you doing this?”_

_“The council didn’t trust me. So how can I trust myself?”_

_“What about me? I believed in you, I stood by you!”_

_“I know you believe in me Anakin, and I’m grateful for that. But this isn’t about you. I can’t stay here any longer. Not now..”_

_“The Jedi Order is your life! You can’t just throw it away like this! Ahsoka, you are making, a mistake.”_

_My voice breaks._

_“Maybe. But I have to sort this out on my own. Without the council.. And without you.”_

_“I understand.. More than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.”_

_“I know.”_

_She leaves. I don’t stop her. I watch her go. She takes a part of me with her._

_I’m never the same._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter 2. You might've noticed I borrowed some dialogue from Force Awakens as a parallel to Kylo and Rey. I thought it was somewhat fitting. Obviously I modified it to fit their personalities, but I hope you find it matching with the story. I'm not sure I like my decision to switch things to first person there at the end, so I might change it. I just thought it might be interesting to change up the style of my writing for that bit. In any case, It'll stay like that for now.
> 
> I'm basically making things up as I go but I have an idea of where I want to go with chapter 3. No idea when I'll get around to making it since I'm basically writing this on a whim, but we'll see. Again, if you like it and want more, do let me know as it will motivate me to write more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Two chapters in one day. Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you. The ending of chapter 2 just gave me an idea for chapter 3, and I wanted to write it while it was still fresh in my mind. Anyway, let me know what you think.

 

_"They’re asking you back, Ahsoka. **I’m** asking you back.”_

_He outstretches his hand towards me, my beads in his hand. I can’t. I close it._

_“I’m sorry, master. But I’m not coming back.”_

_I leave. He runs after me._

_“Ahsoka, wait! Ahsoka, I need to talk to you!”_

_I stop. He reaches me._

_“Why, are you doing this?”_

_“The council didn’t trust me. So how can I trust myself?”_

_“What about me? I believed in you, I stood by you!”_

_“I know you believe in me Anakin, and I’m grateful for that. But this isn’t about you. I can’t stay here any longer. Not now..”_

_“The Jedi Order is your life! You can’t just throw it away like this! Ahsoka, you are making, a mistake.”_

_His voice breaks._

_“Maybe. But I have to sort this out on my own. Without the council.. And without you.”_

_“I understand.. More than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.”_

_“I know.”_

_I leave. I don’t want to. I want to stay. I want to stay with him. But I can’t. I walk away. I can’t see. My eyes are blurry. I’m crying._

_I should’ve stayed with..._

_-_

“Anakin!” She jerked awake, her heart beating so fast in her chest it threatened to pounce out of her body. She couldn’t breathe. Or rather, she was breathing too much, and too fast. Was she hyperventilating? She took a deep breath as she started pacing her inhales and exhales. In. Out. In. Out. Slow. There we go. She closed her eyes and fell back against the bed. Wait a minute, bed? Immediately her eyes shot open once more and she looked down, blinking twice as her mind racing a mile a minute somehow took forever to process the sight around her. She was wearing a medical robe, yet little else around her suggested she was in a medical bay or anything of the sort. Something was different. She felt.. Good. Too good for someone who felt like she was dying only moments before. How long had she been out?

She looked her arms and legs over for bruises, scratches, or any injury whatsoever. Nothing. Not even a scar. She wasn’t sure whether she should be worried or relieved. She did another scan of the room. It was more or less as depressing in nature as the last room she’d been in. Gray and black walls with white and red mixed in, little to no furniture to speak of, although the room was pretty big which made the sparse furniture even weirder. No guards, no Anakin, no nothing. She momentarily considered to lie back in the all-too-comfortable bed but her common sense won out over that impulse. She sat up and swung her legs off the bed. She wasn’t even strapped in. A stark contrast from her previous situation.

She didn’t have time to think about it. She looked around and spotted a simple set of black robes hanging over a nearby chair. She assumed it was meant for her. Anything beat what little she was wearing at the moment, anyway. She wasn’t about to wait for a strong breeze to blow up her medical robe and expose her to the world, God forbid Vader. With that thought in mind, she looked down her robe to confirm that yes, she was naked underneath. She shivered slightly at the thought of Vader potentially having undressed her, a small blush creeping up onto her face which she promptly shook off. It took very little for her teenage crush to come creeping back just from seeing half of Anakin’s face during their fight. She had to forget it. It couldn’t happen then, and it definitely couldn’t happen now.

She quickly dressed into the simple set of somewhat oversized robes and discarded the medical one. _‘Better’_ , she thought to herself. She did a quick lookover of any other items of interest of the room, but she wasn’t surprised her lightsabers weren’t casually left within reach. She sighed. She felt naked without them, which considering her situation only moments ago was ironic. But that was enough messing about. She needed to figure out what was going on, and what her next move was going to be.

She took a deep breath and opened herself up to the Force, reaching out with her feelings. She was taken back from the immense dark side energy that surrounded her, although in retrospect she shouldn’t have been surprised. Still, everywhere? It wouldn’t have been surprising to come from Vader, but to completely envelop her entire surroundings? Either wherever they were had a strong connection to the Dark Side of the Force, or Vader was even more shrouded in darkness than she thought. Her heart dropped at the thought. She optimistic part of her wanted to believe that there was light in him somewhere, but with years being spent with her on the run after Order 66, her optimism was largely depleted. But there must have been a reason he decided to spare her. Anakin had to be in there somewhere.

He had to be.

She further prodded her surroundings with the Force, trying to sense any signature that distinguished itself from the general aura of the place. She sensed something. She wasn’t sure what, but it was something. And something had to do. She made her way towards the nearest door and the slid open for her the moment she approached. Apparently they weren’t very concerned with keeping her prisoner or the potential of her escaping. Maybe Vader knew she meant what she said when they fought.

She wouldn’t leave him. Not this time. She was in this to the bitter end, for better or worse.

She walked through the now open entrance and her eyes opened wide at the sight around her. It was a kriffing palace! It was massive! The child part of her was tempted to shout something to hear her own voice echoed back to her, but she suppressed the urge, the right corner of her mouth quirking upwards in a one-sided smile at her own naivety. It quickly disappeared once the reality of the situation sunk back in. She slowly began to make her way towards whatever she’d felt all the mean while examining her surroundings. Black. The walls were black, the floor was black. The entire place was obviously going for utility over aesthetically pleasing. Seriously, the interior designer must’ve been severely depressed or whoever commissioned this place to be built had a big fondness for washed out colors.

The thought made her consider something.. Did Vader have this place built? Did he own this place? It seemed a bit extravagant for one man. But then she thought back to one of the things she felt from him during their encounter. One of the things that had escaped her notice until now. Loneliness. He was purposefully isolating himself. Which was a bit counter-productive, but people as damaged as him didn’t think about it rationally.

She continued to walk around the palace, her footsteps echoing across the room.

She entered a segment of the palace that felt like a walkway to death. It was a straight line, the sides of the overly large room lined with bland, black pillars, and at the end of the walkway – stairs leading up to what she could only describe to be a throne. The thought of Vader sitting on it sent a shiver down her spine. He was intimidating enough with him looking down at her from that seat. She looked left and right as she made her way down the highlighted path. She would’ve thought a throne room would contain some guards, but she supposed that was in line with the whole isolation aspect he seemed to be gunning for.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she reached the beginning of the stairway and she slowly made her way up it. Her gaze was drawn to the throne. She felt drawn to it. Like it was calling her. She blinked and suddenly she was standing right in front of it. She hadn’t even noticed she’d scaled the stairs. She reached out with her palm and lightly brushed her fingers against the armrest of the throne. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and suddenly she felt as if she was exiting her own body at supersonic speed. Suddenly she was outside. She blinked in confusion. In front of her stood what she could only describe to be a pitch-black castle, surrounded by torrents of lava, which was made even more weird by the fact that she felt cold. How could she feel cold when surrounded by lava? She shook that thought for a moment as she took in the sight of the castle.

It was like a monument to the dark side. That was how she’d describe it. A testament to the dark side’s vast power, which was no doubt pleasing to the average Sith egomaniac. Still, even she had to admit it was impressive and had a certain appeal. Suddenly she was floating back the way she came, slow to begin with, before suddenly blasting forward at immense speed and before she knew it she slammed back into her body and she fell on her ass. She blinked twice in disbelief. What the kriff just happened? She shook her head and distanced herself from the throne. She did **not** want that happening again. Suddenly she felt it again. That weird, presence? She walked around the throne and let her feelings guide her towards it. She walked through room after room until finally she found herself standing in front of one door in particular.

_‘This is it’._

Hesitantly, she reached out towards it and the door slid open like all the ones before. The room was all but completely empty except for one thing. In the center of the room, was a big.. pod? She walked around to the side of it when she realized it was partially open. She squinted through the cracks and her eyes opened wide at the sight before her. She saw the back of his head. No longer were the distinctive brown, shaggy curls she associated with her master adorning his head.

No, in fact his head was completely devoid of any hair at all for that matter. But that wasn’t what shocked her. What shocked her were the nasty, badly healed gashes scarring the back of his sickly gray-skinned head. She froze in place. She wasn’t sure whether to speak and make her presence known, but as it turned out it wasn’t necessary as he seemed to sense her presence. His head tilted slightly to the side, and she felt panic radiating off of him as he quickly turned away before she could see any more of his scarred visage. She couldn’t force herself to look away. Her eyes began to fill with tears at the broken sight of his master, not wanting to even imagine the horror he’d gone through.

_‘What happened to you, Anakin..?’_

She looked away as the pod started slowly lowering his helmet back down onto his head, a suction of air escaping as it clicked into place. The center of his pod began to twist him around to face her, and she couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back as she was once again met with Vader staring back at her, the now familiar mechanical breathing returning to fill the previously silent room, and that sound was the only one in the room for a long moment as she simply stared at him, and he at her. She tried not to shuffle uncomfortably under his gaze, but she could all but picture those golden eyes staring back at her from underneath his mask, and the thought was enough to freeze her body to its core.

She was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Anakin.”

Nothing. And then..

“No.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. A tiny bit shorter than the other two, but I was mainly looking to set up the next chapter (which I still don't know what I'm going to do with). 
> 
> But no matter how I proceed, I can more or less guarantee that things are going to get considerably darker from here on out. Romance will be a very loose way to describe it. If that doesn't put you off, then you'll probably like the next chapter whenever I find the time to write it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pleased to announce that of this chapter, I have built a rough road map of where I'll be taking this story. This will include 9 to 10 chapters and 2 alternate endings, but only one of them will be canon to the story if there's ever a sequel.
> 
> I cannot say when I will release each chapter, but I can pretty much promise that it'll be released when the chapter is finished. I will not make you wait for me to write all of them before releasing them. They'll be done one at a time.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

_She sat on the ledge, cradling her own arms as she leant forward into her lap. She felt so stupid. She’d been so eager to prove herself to her new master she’d ended up almost getting him killed at every turn. The mission had been a success, but it was no thanks to her. Anakin had made that clear, criticizing her every move. She remembered how excited she had been when she found out she was going to be Padawan to the great Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One. Hero of the Republic. She’d been so proud of herself to have earned a place by his side, which made her feel all the more dejected at having failed him. Maybe they’d been right when they said she wasn’t ready to be a Padawan._

_She held her breath as Anakin wandered over and sat down next to her, bracing herself for the lecture she was surely about to receive. She didn’t think she’d be able to handle it. She made no attempt to break the silence between them in that moment, accepting the consequences of her actions, whatever they may be. “You’re reckless, little one. You never would have made it as Obi-Wan’s Padawan.” Her heart sunk at his words, and she lowered her head in shame, her eyes closing shut. “But you might make it as mine.” She opened her eyes, shocked. She looked up from her lap and glanced over at him. He smiled at her warmly, and the contagious smile had the corners of her lips instinctively quirking upwards into a smile to match._

_After everything, he was still willing to take her on as his Padawan. That was when she knew that the man beside her was as great as his reputation made him out to be. Her heart soared in joy, and she had to hold back tears of joy from welling up in her eyes. He made to get up, sweeping his hand forward in a lazy gesture. “Come on.” She rose to her feet as he began to walk towards the ship landing nearby, and it was right then that she promised herself – she wouldn’t let him down. She’d prove his trust in her wasn’t misplaced, and she’d do her damndest to earn her place by his side, no matter what it took._

-

The silence in the room stretched to the point of breaking, with only the eerie sound of Vader’s every distorted inhale and exhale to fill the room as they stared each other down, each trying to read the other, and with him being clad entirely in a metal suit she was at a serious disadvantage. The upper walls of the meditation chamber began to ascend towards the ceiling, Vader slowly rising to his full height before walking down the three shallow steps that took him to level ground. Every clunky step of his feet reverberated to every corner of the room as metal met metal until finally he came face to face with her. Or rather, mask to face. He stepped closer, and it took every ounce of her willpower not to take a step back in retreat from his advancing frame.

She fearlessly looked up into his visors with unfounded confidence she most definitely wasn’t feeling, the overwhelming darkness of his aura seeping through her very being with an excruciating intensity, her chest threatening to cave under the crushing weight of it. She had to manually force her lungs to breathe under the immense pressure, but still she stood tall. She would not yield, she would not show fear. Not to him. Not to anyone. She was better than that. She narrowed her eyes up at him with renewed determination, and she straightened her posture to raise herself to her full height. As things were now she was around the same height Anakin had been, but the bulky mass of the man in front of her towered over her by a considerable amount still.

If he was bothered by her display of defiance, it didn’t show. “I see you have recovered from the injuries you sustained on Malachor.” She bit her tongue to stop herself from letting out the snippy remark that had earned her her nickname by pointing out his role in supplying her with those injuries. “Good. Come with me.” Without offering explanation or saying another word, he walked past her, and she hesitantly followed behind. She looked around cautiously as they entered what she’d previously established to be the throne room of the place, once again noting the absence of guards that once again raised a question she’d been meaning to have answered.

She stopped in the middle of the throne room, and after realizing she was no longer following he turned around to face her, looking at her expectantly, presumably awaiting on an explanation. She stared at him inquisitively before speaking. “Why aren’t there any guards?” His stoic persona remained much the same, steadfast and unwavering, and for a moment she almost envied his ability to hide all his expressions behind a mask.

“Dead. Their allegiance lied not with me, but the Emperor. I could not allow him to learn of your continued survival.” The indifferent apathy with which he spoke about killing dozens of people was unnerving. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand she didn’t wish death on anyone, but on the other she couldn’t ignore the fact that they brought it on themselves when they signed up to serve the Empire. They must have known what they were getting into. She didn’t like where her thoughts were taking her, so she quickly changed the subject by moving onto the next line of inquiry.

“Where are you taking me?” While he had done nothing to make her suspect he was trying to mislead her or draw her into a trap, she had no intention of potentially falling into one by following him blindly. She hadn’t made it this long by being reckless.

“I have arranged for a ship to allow you safe passage off-world, now that you are healed. Do with it what you will.” She tried not to express her surprise in his willingness to save her life only to let her go free with no strings attached. She was skeptical, but it didn’t matter either way. She wasn’t going anywhere.

“I told you already, I won’t leave you. Never again.” She stepped closer to him, looking up into his visors pleadingly. She wanted him to see she meant it. That she’d never again abandon him as she had all those years ago. She was with him to the end, for better or for worse. She was committed to seeing it through. To saving him from the monster he’d become. To save Anakin Skywalker.

He stared back at her in silence for a moment before replying. “Then I will be forced to destroy you.” Even with the mask distorting his voice, she was almost certain she heard his normally steady voice break a bit at the prospect of having to kill her, and she immediately leapt into action to try and exploit the uncertainty in his voice. She walked even closer to him, emboldened by the rare display of weakness in his demeanor, standing only a couple of feet away from him.

“You could have killed me at the temple, but you didn’t. Why?” She opened herself up to the Force and reached out to him once again through their old Force bond as she had on Malachor, testing the waters of their strained relationship. With how tense and weak her bond to him had become she struggled to make out anything from him, but she felt his uncertainty, his wobbly resolve. He was still in there. Anakin was still in there. There was a long moment of silence that passed throughout the room before he finally responded, his voice strained.

“I don’t know.”

She stepped even closer, practically within touching distance at this point. “Yes, you do.” She noticed he struggled to crane his head to look down at her with her being so close to him. That suit wasn’t armor, it was a prison. But to how far that extended, she didn’t know. “Come with me. The Emperor doesn’t control you. I know there’s still good in you. There’s still a part of Anakin behind that cold exterior you put on for the rest of the world.”

“That name no longer holds any meaning for me.” She could make out the hatred with which he spoke through their bond, the loathing he felt whenever she spoke his name. It broke her heart to know how deeply he hated himself. She’d do everything in her power to help change that.

“You always were a bad liar.” She stepped even closer, and tentatively reached out for him, gently pressing her hand against his chest when he made no move to stop her. “Please, come away with me. Leave everything else behind while you still can.” He went silent again. She could feel him withdrawing from her through the Force and she slid her palm to cradle the side of his mask. “Anakin—”. Her words caught in her throat as his hand suddenly darted forward and wrapped tightly around her neck, cutting off her air as he raised her into the air with the immense strength of his augments. She couldn’t breathe under the pressure of his mechanical hand. She could feel the metal digits digging into the side of her neck.

He could snap her neck right then and there and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. “That is **not** my name.” Her hands moved to grip the wrist of the hand that was choking her, desperately trying to pry herself free of his grasp, but it was no use. Her legs flailed helplessly in the air, and her mouth opened and closed as she struggled to speak, letting out a croaked sound. When she finally found her voice to speak, it came out strained as opposed to its normal soothing sound. “Then.. Kill me..” She gasped for air in between her words to no avail. She used all her focus on the Force to sustain her. There was no use in trying to use it to overpower him. “Because.. I won’t.. Leave you..”

She could feel herself fading, her eyelids drooping as the life fled from her body slowly but surely. If this was how she died, then so be it. At least she’d tried her best to save the one person left in the world she cared about with every part of her being. The person she loved. With her brain being deprived of oxygen, she felt the pressure building in her head as if it was going to explode. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she let go, using the last remainder of her energy to relay her feelings for him through the Force.

The last seconds of her life ticked by slowly. Three. Two. Suddenly the grip around her throat disappeared and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes flying wide open as she coughed heavily, gasping for air. She writhed on the ground, rolling onto her front and raising herself onto all fours as she continued to cough again and again, her eyes welling with tears. When she finally regained some semblance of awareness, and the air began to flood her lungs again, she looked up towards where Vader had been to find him gone. She looked around and saw his fleeing form disappear into an adjacent room. Her muscles gave out, and she fell flat on her stomach.

She was lying on the ground for what felt like an eternity. She rolled over onto her back, the hours ticking by as she submerged herself in the Force for guidance and comfort. She could see the clouds through the Force as day turned to night. Finally, she opened her eyes, as she returned back to her surroundings. Slowly, she sat up, leaning forward into her lap. She stayed like that for a moment longer before getting to her feet. Her head turned to look towards the door Vader had gone through, and she knew she had to follow.

She walked through room after room, following Vader’s presence, no longer indistinguishable from the dark aura that surrounded her. Now it was like a beacon, calling her and leading her to him. She felt his every feeling broadcasted to her through the Force, as clear as she had felt it the day they fought. The anger, the regret. All of it. His loneliness and sadness most prevalent among all of that she felt from him. Finally, she found herself in a hallway, and at the end of it a doorway. She knew he was inside. Her purpose clear, she practically floated towards the end of the hallway and walked in as the doors slid open for her. She was horrified at the scene before her. Anakin’s limbless torso floating ethereally in blue liquid, what was left of his body submerged in a bacta tank that glowed white, making the blue hue of the liquid that much brighter.

She slowly walked towards the tank, her eyes fixed on what she saw before her. Tubes hooked up to the bacta tank that was surrounded by droids and machines. Anakin’s limbs were cut off at his elbows and knees, and an oxygen mask was strapped to his face. She swept her gaze over his body. He was almost completely naked, with only a black cloth over his nether region that functioned as a pair of shorts. His skin that she’d previously misidentified as sickly but now understood was a grey mixture of his Sith corruption and burned skin was littered in scars of various natures. His eyes were closed, and he almost looked peaceful in that moment, floating like a ghost.

That was until his eyes suddenly shot open, golden and menacing. She continued to stare, unable to tear her gaze away from his face. The shape of it was much the same as it had been, except his jaw looked wider and more angular than it used to be, and he was completely devoid of hair. His hairless brows were furrowed in anger for a long moment before suddenly easing up as they looked into each other’s eyes. He looked sad. Broken. Everything inside her urged her to just wrap him in her arms and tell him everything was going to be alright. Suddenly the droids and machines powered on, and he was practically spit out of the bacta tank. She moved to help him, but he shook his head, and she stepped back.

She observed silently as the droids began to attach his badly constructed mechanical limbs, and she could feel his pain radiating from him in waves as they warped it to equip his body. It was a horrifying sight to witness. He was being tortured. The limbs and the suit were **designed** to torture him. It must be to make him easier to control. With someone as technologically smart as Anakin, she knew he had to know that as well, but still he allowed it? Did he think he deserved to be tortured? Her heart lurched inside of her at the agony he was experiencing, and she felt an anger build up inside her more intense then she’d ever felt before. The Emperor was truly a monster.

The droids began to clothe him in the lower half of his suit, and her eyes couldn’t but help travel over his scarred torso that was bare to her. It was mostly burn scars, but there were a variety of others she recognized, and she shuddered to think how they were inflicted upon him. His body was wider, bulkier then she remembered him being. It used to be that his build was lean and defined. Now he was a human tank. When they’d finished clothing his lower half she intervened, pushing aside the droids and kneeling down in front of where he sat. He didn’t look at her at first, and she reached up and cradled the side of his face, tilting it to the side to have him look at her.

She looked into his eyes and smiled warmly up at him. He looked confused, as if wondering how she could bear to look at him. She wouldn’t have him thinking of himself that way. She gently grabbed the oxygen mask that covered his mouth and nose, and slowly took it off him, setting it aside. Immediately she saw how hard it was for him to breathe, and she pressed her palm flat against his chest, using the Force to help stabilize him with a constant flow of energy. His breathing eased up, and he continued to stare at her in silence.

She couldn’t deny her feelings any longer. She leaned up and captured his lips with hers. They were dry and chapped, but the sheer satisfaction from relieving the desire that had built up inside her for years was enough to make her ignore it entirely. She didn’t care. She was finally kissing Anakin, and it felt amazing. She pulled back and opened her eyes to discern his reaction. Shock, mainly, but as she reached out to him with the Force, she knew he felt the same way. “Why?” It was all he could apparently muster to say, and she smiled warmly at hearing his voice instead of Vader’s. She brushed her thumb against his cheek comfortingly in repeated sweeps.

“Because I’m in love with Anakin Skywalker. I always have been.” Her heart broke as his eyes began to well up with tears, and he lowered his gaze. She lifted his chin up with two fingers to have him look at her, and he reluctantly did so. “All my life you’ve saved me, in one way or another. You taught me everything I needed to survive, to live. You pulled me out of danger at every turn, and even breathed life back into me on Mortis. Please, let me do the same for you. Let me save you.”

“…Okay.”

She kissed him again, and she felt happier than she’d ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones, and is basically the calm before the storm. The next chapters will be incredibly dark compared to this one. 
> 
> Some more parallels to other movies because I love doing them as I feel it adds a certain credibility to the story, in my opinion. 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think of this chapter. I'm always open to constructive criticism to try and become a better writer, and it's always nice to see compliments to help motivate me to write.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is. Longest chapter yet. I basically wrote all of it in one sitting while heavily sleep-deprived as I haven't slept properly in 3 days, so there's bound to be some mistakes. Because of this, you can expect possible edits and changes. 
> 
> I'm not too happy with the dialogue in this one, but maybe I'm just being picky. You be the judge.
> 
> Just like Vader's castle on Mustafar I've had to infer a lot of things I didn't really know. The extent of my Rebels knowledge revolves mostly around Vader and Ahsoka because they're the only reason I watched the show.

_She could faintly make out what he was saying to the two clone troopers as she sat defeated on the side of the starfighter in the hangar bay. “Get your squad together. I need a head count. We need to know how many we lost today.” She could feel his stare from across the room, even with her gaze downcast towards the floor. After spending so much time with her master, she’d learned to feel whenever he was displeased with anything she’d done long before he’d said a word to her. She almost didn’t hear him approach, his steps muffled by the loud mechanical whirring as one of the astromech’s was pulled out from the starfighter she was currently occupying._

_“Ahsoka, I am very disappointed in you.” Reluctantly, she looked up to face her master, her heart sinking in her chest at the disappointed look on his face. She couldn’t bear it whenever he was mad at her, and she could bear it even less when he was disappointed with her. “You not only disobeyed the admiral, but you disobeyed me.” Without thinking she opened her mouth to defend herself._

_“I thought I could knock out those battle ships so when Master Obi-Wan arrived he could get through.” She lowered her head again as she was reminded of her failure. She thought back to that day on Christophsis when she became a Padawan, and how she’d failed that day too. It was apparently all she was capable of. But this time was worse. This time she’d gotten people killed, and it weighed heavily on her like her shoulders had anchors trying to pull her to the floor._

_“I know you meant well, Snips, but there’s a bigger picture that you’re not aware of. First rule of war; listen and obey your superiors.” She knew she’d messed up, but she couldn’t move past the hypocrisy of his words. She was just trying to follow his example! To be like him! She quickly rose to her feet, turning to face him, her words coming out harsher than she’d meant them to._

_“But sometimes you get carried away!” She knew before she finished the sentence that there was a big difference. The difference being he succeeded where she failed, like she always did. She knew it wasn’t fair to try and compare her actions with his, but with how she was feeling, rationality was as far out of her mind as anything else. He reached out and squeezed her shoulder lightly in a comforting gesture._

_“All that means is that I understand what you’re going through.” She couldn’t bear to look at him, to see that look in his eyes. She turned her gaze away from him. It wasn’t the same. “But I failed.” She could see him lean to the side out of the peripheral of her vision, trying to have her look at him. “It was a trap, Snips. It wasn’t your fault.” He gently pivoted her to face him with his grip on her shoulder. Hesitantly, she looked up into those deep, blue eyes of his. To see him regard her with such genuine concern had her feeling something she couldn’t recognize. She looked down from under his gaze for a short moment. “I lost **so** many of my pilots.” She again looked up at him, and she’d never forget his next words._

_“Take heart, little one. That’s the reality of command.”_

_-_

She looked up from what she was doing towards where he currently sat. Once again he was clad in the full set of black leather and metallic armor, the signature suit marking him as the feared image of Darth Vader. But she knew that wasn’t him. She swiveled her chair around to face him. Even with the mask covering his face she could tell he was deep in thought. “Having second thoughts?” He slowly craned his head to the side to look at her, and she locked eyes with him through his visors for a moment before he spoke.

“No. Not anymore.” Simple and clear. That was his way. Never said more than he needed to. Still, the way in which he spoke felt ominous, and made her nervous. She knew she’d reached him, but a part of her was worried he wouldn’t be able to fully shake what the Emperor had turned him into. For so long the personality of Anakin Skywalker had been submerged in darkness, twisted and corrupted by fear and hatred that resulted in the inevitable creation of the persona that was Darth Vader. A shield between him and the world to distance himself from the atrocious actions he committed on a daily basis. To avoid having to accept responsibility for his actions. She hoped that bringing back Anakin to the surface wouldn’t have him retreating deeper into the familiar darkness that enveloped his life.

She nodded slowly and swerved her chair back around to face the terminal in order to finish punching in the coordinates. “Where are you taking me?” She glanced in his direction. He was so stiff, sitting still in the co-pilot seat as he stared blankly forward out the window of the cockpit. She turned back to focus on what she was doing. She didn’t want them accidentally warping into a planet at lightspeed just because she punched in a wrong number.

“The rebels have a hidden base of operations in the Lothal Sector on the planet of Atollon. We’ll be safe there while we figure out our next move.” She punched in the last number before turning back to find him staring at her. She raised a brow inquisitively, tilting her head to the side in a silent question. “What’s wrong?” He stayed silent for a moment before speaking his mind.

“They will try and have me executed. You know this.” She nodded in confirmation of his suspicions. “I know. But we need a place to hide out until the Emperor is destroyed. Until he is, you’ll never be safe. **We** will never be safe. The rebels can help us.” Not for the first time did she wish he didn’t need to have that mask. It made it hard to gauge his reaction. “I would never let anyone hurt you, Anakin. Never.” She echoed the words he’d spoke to her all those years ago back to him, and she saw him raise his head in recognition of their familiarity. “Trust me.”

He nodded slowly and she smiled at him in the hopes it’d help ease his worries. She turned back to the terminal and set the ship to enter hyperspace the moment they were far enough out of orbit. The moment the familiar blue tunnel appeared in the horizon, and she was certain she hadn’t messed anything up she shifted her attention back to Anakin who was still staring forward. She frowned and got up to walk over to him, placing herself behind him and wrapping her arms around his seated form, leaning her head forward to rest on his shoulder. “Credit chip for your thoughts?”

He reached up to wrap his left hand gently around her wrist, leaning back into her embrace while he continued to look forward. “I was thinking about the day you left the Order.” Her grip around him tightened at his words and she held him closer to her body. “I should’ve gone with you.” She shook her head and wrapped around to the other side of him, seating herself sideways into his lap and cradling her arms around his neck to steady herself.

“No. I never should’ve left.” His masked head perked up at her words, and he lifted his gaze to look her in the eyes. “I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay with you, but..” She trailed off, her gaze lowering down to his chest as she was forced to relive the painful memory. She felt his thumb and index finger gently grasp her chin and lift it to look him in the visors, which she did so hesitantly, leaning into his touch. “I felt like I couldn’t stay, because my only reason for wanting to stay was so that I could be with you. But I knew I couldn’t have you. So, I left. And I’ve regretted it every single day since.”

He must’ve seen the tears beginning to well up in her eyes because he suddenly pulled her close against him and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She closed her eyes and savored the moment. Slowly, her sobbing began to slow, and she pulled back to look at him. He cradled her cheek in his hand, wiping a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb. The leather of his glove felt comforting against her skin. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. She could feel everything he wanted to say. And that was enough.

-

She suddenly perked up at the sound of three beeps signifying their up coming arrival to their destination, and she looked around as she tried to gather her bearings. It took her a moment to realize that she wasn’t in the pilot seat, but still wrapped in Anakin’s embrace in the seat beside it. She must’ve been like that for hours now. She’d felt so comfortable in his arms, so peaceful, that time seemed to have just flown by. She hadn’t even fallen asleep, but rather gone into the human equivalent of low-power mode. She felt rejuvenated and ready to take on all of the Empire with Anakin beside her. Speaking of, she noticed him seemingly come to as well, his gaze lifting to a display with a flashing red light in a form of a dot in synch with the beeping.

“Looks like we’re coming up on Atollon. I better get back to my seat if we mean to actually pilot this thing instead of floating through space in each other’s arms, as tempting as it sounds.” She flashed a cheeky smile at him, moving to get up before feeling him tug her back into his lap. She looked at him, brow raised in a silent question. He simply stared at her for a moment before lowering his head. She put a hand on either side of his helmet, lifting his gaze to look at her. “What is it?”

He was conflicted. She could feel it radiating from him through the Force. But conflicted about what? Her heart sunk in her chest as she thought to herself for a split second that perhaps he didn’t feel as strongly about her as she did about him, but then she felt it – a feeling of love so all-encompassing that she could’ve lost herself in it flowed through their old Force bond and washed away any feeling of doubt she had. But if it wasn’t that, then what? Finally, he spoke. “It’s not too late. We can still turn around. Set a course somewhere so far away they’ll never find us. Leave the concerns of the galaxy behind us and start a new life together.”

Now it was her turn to feel conflicted. She wanted to. By the Force, she wanted to with every fiber of her being, and a selfish part of her almost jumped on the opportunity. The impulse passed like a fleeting shadow, fading back into the darkness of her mind it had originated from, and she forced herself to recognize the reality of the situation. “I can’t, Anakin. You know that. I can’t leave the Rebellion to die. My friends. I just can’t.” She could feel his disappointment through the Force, and it brought a sinking feeling to her chest.

“I know.” He let go of her, allowing her to stand up if she wanted to, and she briefly thought about not getting up, to try and reconcile their differences. But there’d be time for that later. Right now, they were just burning fuel. Reluctantly getting up, she made her way over to the pilot seat with one last wistful glance in Anakin’s direction before assuming control of the ship and guiding their descent down to the planet. As they entered the atmosphere and began to close on the desired location, a transmission came through.

“Unidentified vessel, you are trespassing on restricted grounds, please identify yourself or we will be forced to engage.” She slowed the velocity of the ship before responding in the most professional manner she could muster. “This is Commander Ahsoka Tano, code name Fulcrum of Phoenix Cell. Transmitting clearance code now.” With a press of a button she followed through on her words and not-so-patiently waited on a reply. With only the sound of Anakin’s mechanical breathing to fill the room, and the threat of being shot down hanging over their heads, she wasn’t feeling all too generous in the patience department. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the response to come through. “Welcome to Chopper Base, Commander Tano. Please proceed to the following landing site. Transmitting the details now.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and turned her head to smile in Anakin’s direction, but it quickly died on her lips. He was eerily still and had suddenly become unreadable to her in the Force. The Force bond between them was still intact, but she felt nothing from him. As if a wall had risen between Anakin and his feelings, instead of Anakin and her. She couldn’t decipher any of what he could be feeling, and it worried her. Why had he suddenly shut himself off from everything? She opened her mouth to voice that exact question, but quickly changed her mind when they saw they were coming up on the landing site. She’d ask him later when they had time alone.

She carefully guided the ship down to level ground and engaged the landing gears, landing with a soft grace. She got up and walked over to Anakin, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get this over with, okay?” He nodded silently and got up, walking slowly behind her as the boarding ramp of the ship opened and lowered down to flat ground. She took point, slowly striding down to meet the welcome party, and she was quickly greeted by a young Ezra running over to her and engulfing her waist with his arms in a hug so strong it knocked the air out of her. “You’re alive! I thought you’d died!” She laughed, and after returning the bear hug inflicted upon her, knelt down to look him in the eye, hands lying softly on both of his arms.

“Not yet.” She could faintly make out a few vague shapes behind him and she looked over his shoulder to identify them, spotting a rebel leader she didn’t recognize, along with the rest of the Spectres group. “But the temple collapsed while you were fighting-..” He trailed off, looking over her shoulder in horror and she followed his gaze to Anakin walking down from the ship before coming to a halt once he reached the bottom of the ramp.  Before she could stop him, Ezra had pulled himself free of his grasp and spun around, reaching out with the Force towards Kanan to summon his lightsaber to his hand and then sprinting towards Anakin.

“Ezra, no!” She shouted for him to stop too late as he leapt into the air and swung down at Anakin, to which he simply sidestepped, allowing the blow to fling past him and scorch the boarding ramp. As soon as the first blow missed he was already following through with another one, swinging sideways towards him again, only to have Anakin’s mechanical fist wrap around Ezra’s wrist and twist it with just enough pressure to force him to drop the lightsaber onto the ground. Effortlessly, Vader threw him back in the direction he came from half-heartedly, watching him stumble forward and then fall on the ground.

She quickly spun around towards them in order to defuse the situation and was met with the entirety of the Spectre group aiming at Anakin, along with what had to be at least an entire squadron running up behind them with their weapons primed. “Stop! Everybody stop, now!” She looked down at a prone Ezra as he looked up at her in disbelief, and then over at Anakin in anger. He got up to his feet and pointed towards the source of their disagreement. “Ahsoka, he’s evil! He tried to kill me, and Kanan, and even you! How can you defend a monster like him?!” She looked around as the rebels began to swarm around them, surrounding them in a circle with their weapons aimed towards Anakin, and she stepped in front of him to shield him with her body.

“He’s not a monster, he’s a victim! The Emperor tortured him and forced him to do his bidding on pain of death! But he refused! He could’ve killed me, but he didn’t. He saved me! He’s the reason I’m alive!” She narrowed her teary eyes in determination as she eyed the rebels cautiously, ready to act on the slightest sign of an attack. “He defied the Empire and came here willingly to help us, to atone for all he’s done! He deserves our hospitality, not our hostility!” She narrowed her gaze on the rebel leader she couldn’t identify before as he stepped forward to address her.

“Even so, Commander Tano, he’s committed countless transgressions towards not only our people – but people all around the galaxy. He is dangerous and cannot be trusted. If you do not step aside, we will be forced to subdue you.” She stood her ground, staring at him in defiance as she weighed her options. Ezra stepped closer, looking at her pleadingly. “Listen to him, Ahsoka! Vader’s not worth dying for!”

That’s where he was wrong. He was worth dying for, and she was prepared to lay down her life in that pursuit if she had to. “No. I won’t.” She summoned both her lightsabers from her belt with the Force and ignited them, settling down into her usual fighting stance as she prepared to fight for what she held most dear. The rebels around her tensed up, and they raised their weapons higher up in preparation to fire. “Ahsoka.” She looked over her shoulder at Anakin who looked at her, or rather through her, into her very soul. Everything around her faded out of existence, and all she saw was him. “No.”

She could feel him in the Force again, no longer closed off to her, and she felt his love and concern for her radiate off from him in waves.

_Not for me._

She could hear his words in her head. Anakin’s words. Anakin’s voice. Her tears began to well up in her eyes, and slowly the world faded back into view. She turned back to look at the people around her and hesitantly turned off her lightsabers.

Anakin gently pushed her aside and walked past her, standing in the middle of the surrounding rebels, completely exposed. “I surrender. Execute me, if you wish, or arrest me. I leave the choice of the matter up to you. I ask only that you do not hold Commander Tano’s actions here today against her. She did only what she thought was right, as she always has.” She could barely see Anakin toss his lightsaber away through the blur of her vision, the steady stream of tears overflowing in her eyes. She watched on in trepidation, more terrified then she’d ever felt. Afraid to lose the person she loved.

“Cuff Lord Vader and take him into custody for further interrogation.” The words were like a soothing balm to her wounded heart, and she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Relief didn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling. She watched as they cuffed Anakin and took him away. It wasn’t what she had wanted, but it was a start.

-

Her feet carried her towards Anakin’s cell of their own will. She’d just come from a meeting with some of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance and was displeased to put it mildly with the outcome of it. Ezra had refused to talk to her after the little showdown outside the base. He felt betrayed. She knew how that felt. Hopefully one day he’d understand.

Pulling herself from her thoughts she found herself outside Anakin’s cell, and quietly instructed the guards outside to let her in. The door flew open, and she walked in, the door closing shut behind her almost immediately after. “They have reached a decision?” She nodded. He was sitting on the metal bench that melded with the wall, his posture straight as he carried himself with the usual regal confidence he always displayed. Even imprisoned that confidence never wavered. But then again, she knew that no prison could hold him if he didn’t want it to.

“They’ve decided to keep you here until they can convene with the rest of the leaders of the Alliance. With the secluded nature of the planet, it makes it hard to transmit or receive messages to other rebel cells. In the meantime, they’re going to try and extract what information they can from you.” He simply nodded in recognition of her words.

She sighed and walked over to him, seating herself beside him. “I’m sorry, Anakin. I thought they’d try to look past the things you’ve done and understand what an asset you could be to them, but I’ve only managed to put you in harm’s way.” She lowered her head, crestfallen.

“It is not your fault. Their fear controls them.”  His voice was calm, steady.

She let out a hollow laugh, tilting her head to look over at him with a sad smile. “Even in a situation as bleak as this you still find a way to be composed.” She shook her head amusedly as she leaned in closer, cradling the side of his helmet with one hand as she looked up into his visors. “I promise I will get you out of here. We’ll find a way back from this.” He said nothing, and she reached for him through their old Force bond as she’d made a habit of doing to gauge his reaction, but she felt nothing. He was closed off again. She opened her mouth to ask him about it, when suddenly the whole room shook, and dust trickled down from the ceiling.

She shot up to her feet, her survivor instinct kicking in as the adrenaline started pumping through her on demand. “Stay here! I’ll go see what’s happening! I’ll be back!” She ran up to the door and knocked heavily up against it several times until it shot open.

“Ahsoka.”

Her hyperactive reflexes practically spun her around to look at him. He stared at her silently for a moment before speaking. “We should’ve run away together when we had the chance.” She looked at him in confusion for a moment before sprinting off down the hallway, the cell door flying shut behind her. She quickly made her way outside as fast as her legs would carry her, running up to a nearby rebel upon spotting him and sliding to a halt beside him.

“What’s happening?” The rebel spun around to face her, panic evident on his face.

“A massive Imperial fleet just dropped out of hyperspace! They’re mounting an assault on the base!” She opened her mouth to question him further when she heard the familiar whirr of a moving starfighter, and she turned around in time to see a bomber pulling up into the air and suddenly a massive explosion flung her backwards at high speeds, and she impacted heavily on the ground with enough force to knock the air out of her. Her ears were ringing, and her ribs felt like they were squeezing the breath out of her. She slowly rose to her feet and looked up towards where she’d been standing to see a minor crater in her place, the ground scorched and limbs scattered across the ground.

She looked up into the sky to see the X-Wing fighters taking off into the air to provide air support only to get shot down by dozens of TIE fighters whirling through the air, destroying any starcruiser that tried to lift off the ground. She could see dozens of Imperial dropships making their way to deploy soldiers on the ground.

How could this happen? How did they find them? A horrifying idea popped up in her head, and she prayed that it wasn’t true. She turned around. The sounds of war fading into the background as she ran, faster than she’d ever run before. The Force launching her forward with a burst of speed, as she practically became a blur of motion to the naked eye. She found herself in the prison block before her mind could catch up. Slowly, the scene unfolded before her, now translated from the haze of her mind. Bodies. Almost a dozen corpses of various degrees of dismemberment and disfigurement splayed out along the hallway. She quickly ran over and ducked into Anakin’s cell.

It was empty.

This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. This was all a nightmare. A nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. She desperately didn’t want it to be true, but the truth of the situation was all around her. She quickly turned around and ran once more. She couldn’t stop. If she stopped, she’d think. If she’d think, she’d recognize the truth. If she recognized the truth, she would break. And she couldn’t afford to break. Not now. She sped around aimlessly at first before a horrifying thought popped in her head regarding where he could have gone. She quickly altered her course and found herself in front of Ezra’s room. She slowed to her normal pace and walked inside. When the doors shot open she was confronted with the truth she wanted so desperately to deny.

Vader stood in the red-lit room, the hum of his crimson lightsaber resonating through the air, accompanied only by the calm, unchanging sound of his mechanically distorted breathing. She froze in place, and slowly Vader turned to face her, a red-black tinted Sith holocron in his left hand and his lightsaber in the other. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She could barely feel. She saw a faint shape on the ground and looked down to confirm her worst fears. The familiar blue hair immediately gave it away.

Ezra was lying on the ground, dead. She dropped to her knees, tears overflowing and dripping down her cheeks.

She looked up into the red visors of Darth Vader. “What have you done..?” Her voice was quiet, hoarse – as if afraid to be heard.

“What was always intended.” She didn’t dare speak. She didn’t trust her voice not to fail her.

“I had the ship I arranged for you outfitted with a tracking beacon before you awoke on Mustafar. I regret you got mixed up in this, but it was necessary.”

The calmness in which he spoke in, the steady apathetic tone of his warped voice. She was filled to the brim with anger. Her body acted on its own, and suddenly she was on her feet and igniting both her lightsabers. She hurled herself at him, swinging recklessly in his general direction with all her might. He effortlessly sidestepped, blocked, and deflected her every swing while he slowly backtracked into the hallway. She practically stumbled after him, throwing everything she had towards him. There was no grace in which she fought, no precision, no application of her years of lightsaber training being used. She just kept swinging. And swinging. And swinging.

“Why, Anakin?! I trusted you! I believed in you! Why? Why?!” She was overwhelmed by her feelings, her tears flowing freely. Anger. Fear. Regret. Disbelief. Sadness. Guilt. All left unchecked and given free reign over her every move.

“ **Enough.** ”

Suddenly he swung back, and she fumbled to bring both her lightsabers to block, the weight of the blow enough to knock her back a couple of steps. A flurry of red light and suddenly she was disarmed. Before she could process what had just happened she was flung back from a massive burst of the Force and sent hurling all the way down the hallway and into a wall. She fell forward onto her stomach, wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. She pushed herself up onto all fours when suddenly she was lifted up into the air as she felt an invisible force tighten around her neck and choke her. She flailed helplessly in the air as Vader closed the distance between them.

Her vision began to fade as the life fled from her, and the last thing she felt was a feeling of betrayal.

The world went black, and there was nothing.

Nothing but darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the ending of this chapter came as a surprise. Those of you who might have been thinking the last chapter was too good to be true, you were right. Just so there's no confusion regarding the last bit, Ahsoka isn't dead.
> 
> Needless to say things are going to be a LOT darker from here on out. This is where the two endings part I mentioned last time comes into play. I want to leave both audiences more or less satisfied with the end of the story. So there will be one 'bad ending' and one 'good ending'. Only one of them will be canon, and I won't say which one it is.
> 
> The next chapter we will be shifting to Vader's POV.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is. I told you that you wouldn't have to wait too long. This chapter is slightly longer than the last one, making this one my new longest chapter. I didn't intend for it to be this long, but I kind of got carried away. I had the chapter mostly played out in my head, and I wanted to try and do it justice the best I could from how I envisioned it.
> 
> The 'graphic violence' tag comes in relatively strong in this chapter, so I hope you're not squeamish to that sort of stuff.
> 
> I actually finished this chapter yesterday on the 12th, and I'd intended to post it right away, but I had a problem with the website which forced me to postpone it for a bit.
> 
> I wanted to say thank you all for the support and the Kudos, it means a lot to me. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

_“Everything has transpired exactly as I’d planned.” He could hear the smug satisfaction in his voice. To see him be so damn pleased with himself set his blood boiling, barely contained anger bubbling underneath the surface of his not-so-composed exterior. He watched on as the scene unfolded before him, utilizing every ounce of his Jedi training to reign in his anger before it washed over everyone around him. He couldn’t risk losing his calm. The Son had Ahsoka under his spell right before him, and if he wasn’t careful he could kill her before he got the chance to return the favor to him. He eyed the pair cautiously as she stood in front of the Son, the Dagger of Mortis in hand, ready to give it up to him._

_“You showed them the Altar?” His attention momentarily shifted to the Father as he rose to his feet, hunched over and pale from the treatment the Son had dealt out to him. “I’m sorry, Father. I didn’t know how else to stop him.” He spared a glance to his right where Obi-Wan was supporting the Daughter, lest she collapsed to the ground. He looked back to the center of his thoughts. Ahsoka. He needed to free her of his control before he killed the Son. He felt restless, his feet shuffling along the ground as he switched stances, ready to lunge if need be. The Son raised his palm up for the Dagger. “Give it to me, child.”_

_She looked over her shoulder at him, the dark veins of the Dark Side corruption evident on her beautiful, orange skin – her eyes no longer that magnetic blue, but golden. He stepped forward, reaching out his hand for her to stop. “Ahsoka, no!” Her gaze lowered, and she could feel her try to resist in the Force, but it was no use. The Son’s influence was too strong for her. Her grip tightened around the dagger in a brief display of defiance before handing it over to the person he swore to himself he’d kill given the chance._

_The Son ran the back of his palm down the length of the Dagger, giving it a lazy flourish as he admired the craftsmanship. “Thank you. Your usefulness has come to an end.” His eyes widened in fear at his nonchalant statement, and he felt his every muscle tighten in preparation for attack as he watched helplessly as the Son pressed two fingers against Ahsoka’s forehead and she collapsed to the ground, eyes closed. The only thing he could hear as the sound of the world faded out of his perception was the sound of her lightsaber clanking against the ground as it rolled out of her idle hand._

_“Nooooo!” His vision turned red and he sprinted forward with the sole intention of ending the Son’s life in the most brutal manner possible, only to be flung back as the Son sent him flying with a Force Push. He slid along the ground before coming to a stop, dazed and devoid of breath. He inhaled deeply as he could faintly make out the voices around him._

_“The Jedi have brought me the dagger, and you have brought yourself. Now, Father – you will **die**.” He looked up just in time to see the Son winding the Dagger back over his head to plunge it into the Father, but instead found itself buried in the Daughter’s back as she flung herself in between the two, the Father catching her before she fell. The Son looked down at his hands in horror, as if stained by the invisible blood of his sister. “Why?!” The thunder brightened the dark sky as if to emphasize his anger before he flew up into the air and shifted into the bat like form, disappearing from view. _

_He didn’t care. Ignoring everything else, he ran over to Ahsoka’s unmoving body, rolling her over onto her back to see the horrible red veins in the white of her sclera. No. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. First he couldn’t save his mother, and now he couldn’t save Ahsoka. He could hear the Father having a dialogue with the Daughter, but he couldn’t bring himself to listen, his mind entirely occupied at the sight of Ahsoka’s lifeless body._

_No. He wouldn’t allow it. He’d bring her back if he had to turn back time itself to do it. He forced himself to look up from Ahsoka to address the Father. “Can you help her..?” Desperation was evident in his voice, but he didn’t care. Nothing else mattered but saving Ahsoka. “There is no light. The evil has been unleashed, and the dark side shall consume her.” He refused to believe it. He couldn’t. “You must help her!” His voice broke. He was distraught, desperate, afraid. What good was being the supposed Chosen One if he couldn’t save the people he loved? If he couldn’t save..._

_He cut off his line of thinking. Even now, he couldn’t allow himself to think of Ahsoka that way. “I cannot undo what is done! There is.. No hope.” He shook his head in denial. “Yes, there is! There’s always hope!” He watched the silent exchange between the Father and the Daughter as she gestured to Ahsoka. The Father rose to his feet and walked in between the two bodies, gesturing to the spot on the ground in front of him for him to kneel. He did so without hesitation. Somehow, he knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes, raising his arms in the air as he subconsciously mirrored the Father’s movements._

_“Then let my daughter’s last act, be to breathe life into your friend.”_

_He gently pressed a finger against the Daughter’s forehead before doing the same to Ahsoka’s. The moment his finger touched Ahsoka, he threw his head back towards the sky and his eyes rolled back into his eyes as he was filled with pure, unadulterated light. The light side of the Force flowed through him in a way it never had before, his body acting as a conduit between the two as he transferred the Daughter’s life essence into Ahsoka’s body, his body shaking from the effort. His body couldn’t handle it. Finally, he collapsed onto all fours, exhausted and his energy completely spent._

_He hesitantly looked up over at Ahsoka in trepidation, afraid of what he’ll see. His heart lurched inside him as he was once again met with the sight of her lifeless body, and he broke. He looked down at the ground, overwhelmed with sadness and anger. He’d failed. He couldn’t save the life of one of the people he loved most in this world. Nothing mattered anymore. He perked up instinctively at the sound of Ahsoka coughing, his heart overfilled with joy at the sight of her alive as she sat up while trying to catch her breath. Immediately, he wrapped around to her side and wrapped her in his arms, holding her against him so tightly as if she’d collapse into pieces if he let go._

_Reluctantly, he pulled back to look her in the eyes, relief evident on his face. He let out a morose laugh. “Hey, Snips.” She looked tired, her eyelids half-closed. She spoke, her voice weak. “What’s.. going on?” He looked in between him and Obi-Wan for answers. “Uh.. Not much.”_

_She looked at him, and he’d never been happier to see the blue of her eyes._

_“It’s good to see you.”_

_-_

He let go and watched as she hit the floor, unconscious. He felt nothing. He was empty, numb. Completely devoid of feeling as the dark side once again enveloped him completely, wrapping him in the cold, familiar embrace of darkness. He eyed the motionless body crumpled up on the floor before him, frozen in place, his mind blank. He could feel the presence of several approaching shapes behind him and hear the familiar clanking of Imperial issue boots hitting the metal floor. He could feel them pull up behind him. “Lord Vader. We’ve seized control of the compound. Our best slicers are extracting what information they can from the base’s computers as we speak. Your ship is waiting for you outside, as requested.”

He nodded half-heartedly in recognition of his words, turning to face the soldiers behind him as he once again receded into the apathetic persona of Darth Vader. “Very good, Commander. Restrain the Togruta with Force dampeners and bring her aboard my ship.” The officer straightened his posture and clinked the heels of his boots together as he stood to attention. “Right away, Lord Vader.” The officer nodded towards where Ahsoka was lying on the ground in a silent command, and the five other stormtroopers accompanying him followed his demand unquestioningly. “Shall I notify the Emperor of our victory here?”

He shook his head firmly. “No, I will inform him myself. Transmit the details of your findings here to my ship as soon as you’ve obtained the information.” The officer nodded. “Understood.”

Satisfied with his answer, he pushed past him and began the long walk down the hallway as he slowly made his way outside, stepping over the long line of corpses littered all around the base. Once outside he walked in between the two established firing lines on other side of him and was immediately met with another Imperial Officer who snapped to attention, saluting sharply with the elegant demeanor of high-ranking military personnel. “Lord Vader. We’ve captured several rebels, including members of the terrorist cell we’ve been after. Standing by for your orders.” He looked over the shoulders of the firing line on his right where he saw some of the so called ‘Spectres’ kneeling on the ground.

“Execute the rebels. They’re of no consequence to us.” The officer simply nodded and gestured to the firing line on his left to open fire while he pushed past the one on his right to walk up to the ‘Ghost team’. He could hear the rapid discharge of blasters behind him, and he waited for it to pass before proceeding with his inspection. He began to make his way down the line, starting on the far left and working his way.

He momentarily stopped in front of the Mandalorian. “The glorified bounty hunter.” The teenage girl with the colorful hair scowled up at him, but he ignored her and continued down the line, stopping in front of the green Twi’lek.

“The overzealous pilot.” She simply glared up at him in defiance, and again he ignored her pathetic attempts to appear brave.

He moved on, coming to a stop in front of the C-Series astromech droid. “The faulty droid.” The rusty droid seemed to mumble something at him instead of the usual beeping you’d come to expect from astromech’s.

He came to a stop at the end of the line, turning to face the tall purple alien. “And the disgraced honor guard.” The bulky alien grunted as he shot up to his feet to respond to his insult, only to fall back to his knees as a stormtrooper behind him kicked in the back of his knees. “Your defiance is ill-advised, Lasat. Try anything like that again and you will join the rest of your species in extinction.” The Lasat glared at him in anger, baring his teeth. “The Jedi is not among you. Where is he?” The bald alien spit at his feet, and he craned his neck to look down at the symbol of his opposition.

“Very well. If he will not reveal himself, then his world will burn with his selfishness.”

He pulled back and swept his gaze over the four rebels until his eyes narrowed onto the green Twi’lek. He walked over in front of her and reached into the depths of her mind with the Force, probing through her memories until getting the information he was looking for to confirm his suspicions. The Jedi was in love with the Twi’lek. How quaint. “You. You will be the instrument of his suffering.” He extended his hand forward and reached out with the Force, wrapping it around her neck with it and constricting it around her throat as he lifted her up into the air and began to choke the life out of her. She clawed desperately at the invisible grip around her throat, her legs flailing in the air as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

He held her that way, thrashing helplessly in the air as she tried to free herself to no avail for several seconds before he heard someone yell in the distance. “Vader!” Without releasing his hold of her with the Force, he turned his body to identify the source of the voice. There was the Jedi, standing at the entrance of the base with a blindfold wrapped around his head shielding his eyes. Stormtroopers began to swarm around his location, surrounding him where he stood with their weapons aimed at him, but he stood his ground.

“Let her go! You wanted me, here I am!” He chuckled internally as he felt something akin to amusement in the numbness of his soul.

“You overestimate your importance, Jedi, but I will oblige your request.” He let her go and dropped his hand to his side, not even looking at the Twi’lek as she collapsed to the ground gasping for air. He eyed the Jedi as he ignited his lightsaber and held it up to his side, both hands grasping the hilt. Slowly, he walked away from the kneeling victims and pushed past the firing line to stand across from the Jedi.

“Come face me, you coward!” Without a word, he threw his hand out in the air and reached out with the Force, grabbing the Jedi’s neck while simultaneously pulling him towards him at a rapid speed. The Jedi’s lightsaber turned off as he helplessly flew towards him and into his grasp, his mechanical hand wrapping tightly around his throat. He easily pried the Jedi’s lightsaber free from his hand with the one not currently choking him and lazily passed it over to a nearby stormtrooper.

“Your antics amuse me, Jedi. But your delusions do not.” He tightened his grip around his throat before pulling him back and throwing him forward into the ground onto his back. He pulled his hands back as the Jedi slowly began to rise to his feet, balling a massive flow of Force energy in his hands, allowing its intensity to build before thrusting his hands forward and sending the enormous burst towards him, sending the Jedi flying back all the way through the entrance of the base and into the hangar bay.

He briskly strode down the path to join him in the hangar bay, the Jedi still lying on the ground and only now trying to get up to his feet. He swept his hands upwards and lifted him up with the Force like he was nothing, swiping his hand to the right as he hurled the Jedi into a nearby wall, hearing the sickening crack of his bones as he impacted against the wall. But he wasn’t done. Again, he swiped his hand to the left, flinging him into another wall, and the screams that accompanied the crunch of his feeble body was like music to his ears. Finally, he threw his hand down to smash him into the ground at his feet. When it was done the Jedi couldn’t even raise himself onto all fours as he simply writhed in pain on the floor.

“You killed.. Ezra.” The Jedi said, his voice weak as he gasped for breath. He eyed the hunched over form on the ground in disgust. “Count yourself lucky your lover is not among the dead, Jedi.” The Jedi groaned as he reached up with his hand, fueled by anger as he desperately tried to get a hold around him with the Force. He had to refrain from rolling his eyes at his futile efforts as he simply swiped his hand to the side, breaking his weak hold over him and tossing him to the side, watching as he twirled several times in the air before hitting the ground, crying out in anguish. He walked over to the prone Jedi and unclipped his lightsaber hilt from his belt, igniting it as he hovered over him.

“Now you will die, Kanan Jarrus. As all Jedi must.” He could feel the man’s pain radiate out from him in waves, both spiritual and physical, and he closed himself off from his torment. He could suffer in silence.

“Please.. Kill me if you have to.. Just please spare her life.” He could hear the desperation in his voice, and it reminded him of another Jedi he killed years ago. Skywalker. The comparison flooded his body with hate, and he was filled with the desire to see the man suffer. He raised his lightsaber to his side, readying it for the killing blow. “Do not despair, Jedi. I will see to her, **personally**.” He smiled to himself at the look of anger and fear in his victim’s eyes before he brought the lightsaber down, severing his head from his body with a clean stroke and watched his body crumble flat on the floor.

He powered off his lightsaber, clipping it to his belt before bending down and grabbing a handful of the Jedi’s hair, lifting the severed head up to eye level and looking at it in satisfaction of his work. He let his hand drop to his side, still clutching the head as he made the long walk back to the kneeling group of rebels. He could see the look of terror in the Twi’lek’s eyes, horrified to learn what happened, and he tossed the head at her feet to confirm her worst fears. She broke out in tears as she fell onto all fours, devastated. “No! Kanan! You monster!” She sobbed heavily, her tears fluttering shut in sorrow.

“You fucking bastard!” He turned his head to the side in time to see the Lasat’s fist flying towards him, and his helmet twisted to the side from the blow. Slowly, he turned his head back to look at the Lasat, unfazed as he saw him bring his fist back for another swing. He brought his arm up and knocked aside his blow with his forearm before retaliating with a one-two combo to his head and chest, and he saw him falter under the blow of his mechanical fists. Desperately, the former honor guard wound his fist back for a wild haymaker, and he simply sidestepped in the opposite direction – brushing his palm against the passing arm to lead it away from him before smashing his free fist into the alien’s back, and he could hear his spine snap under the impact. The Lasat began to fall to the ground due to his broken back, but he caught him in both hands before he could and raised his body up above his head before slamming him down into the ground with immense force, the ground beneath him cracking under the weight.

He looked down at the broken heap at his feet, writhing in pain but unable to move. He straightened up his posture as he looked at the helpless spectators and smiled under his mask at the look of horror and fear on their faces. He raised his robotic foot into the air and not-so-gently pressed it down onto the Lasat’s throat, still eyeing the kneeling prisoners. “Let him be an example of what shall happen to you and anyone who dares to defy the Empire.” To emphasize his point, he brought his foot up and smashed it down into the Lasat’s face, caving in the front of his skull half-way with one stomp. The already sobbing figures cried out at the sight, the Twi’lek paralyzed by the trauma while the Mandalorian stared up at him defiantly in anger with tear-filled eyes.

He stepped back from the mutilated body and slid his bloody boot along the ground, chunks of bone and brain scraping off his boot. He stared down at the Mandalorian who still dared to defy him. “Commander.” He spoke authoritatively while keeping his gaze focused on the teenager. He heard the officer step closer behind him. “Yes, Lord Vader.” He turned his body sideways to look at him as he addressed him. “Restrain and subdue the Mandalorian and take her aboard the prisoner transport. Have its course set for Mustafar. I will see to her myself.” He relished the look of fear that overtook the girl’s face.

“And the Twi’lek, sir?” He turned to look at the subject of their conversation, the woman still sobbing over her deceased’s lover’s head. A wicked thought popped into his head on how to make the Jedi suffer from even beyond the grave. “Let her join her people in slavery. Fit her with a shock collar and throw her with the Mandalorian aboard the prisoner transport. I shall decide her fate later.” The commander nodded at his request and gestured to his men to follow his commands. He looked over at the last item on the list.

“As for the droid, have its memory ransacked and disassembled for scraps.” With that, he turned around and walked off before allowing him to respond, making his way over to his docked ship with a confident stride. He was back to normal. Things were as they should be. He entered the ship, and after confirming the presence of Ahsoka’s unconscious body in the holding cell, sat down and piloted the ship into the atmosphere and out of orbit, plotting a course for Mustafar.

-

He watched as she came to, her eyes slowly fluttering open and she raised her hand to block the light from her eyes. He stood in the center of the cell, eyeing her prone form on the metal bench that jutted out of the wall and waited for her to come to her senses, morbidly curious to see what she’ll do. She seemed to recognize the sound of his breathing as she suddenly perked up and looked over at him. She looked distraught, and he had to bury the part of Anakin that tried to rise to the surface in the darkness of his mind to stop himself from enveloping his arms around her and begging for forgiveness. Vader does not beg. He does not apologize. He’s the one who makes others beg.

She tried to sit up but flinched as the pain of her ordeal reminded her of her injuries and she fell back onto the bench, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. She couldn’t bear to look at him. He could feel it. That part of Anakin stirred inside him again, and he squashed the urge inside of him just as quickly as it began. “What did you do..?” Her voice was almost devoid of emotion, numb from sadness and trauma. It was a stark contrast to the usual fire to the tone of her voice, the passion. It didn’t suit her.

“What was necessary.” He said in his steady, monotone voice. It was getting easier to suppress that part of Anakin that rebelled against him, the familiar personality of Vader once again fitting him like a glove, the dark side almost feeling comfortable against its nature. She rolled her head to the side to look at him, tears streaming down the orange skin of her face. “What did you do to the others?” She said quietly, concern evident in her voice. It angered him. They were not worthy of consideration, let alone her concern.

“Do you mean the murderers, criminals, and terrorists you call friends?” He let the venom of his anger seep into his otherwise cold voice. “Are you certain you wish to know?” She tried to leap to her feet in anger, but barely managed to roll herself onto her side and prop herself up with her forearm from the overwhelming pain. “Tell me!” She snapped at him, that signature passion of her flaring back in her anger, yet her anger paled in comparison to his. He stared her down as she tried to put on a show of defiance. He’d have to squash that in its infancy if she was to understand her new place.

“Dead or imprisoned. The Jedi, and Lasat belonging to the former category.” He said bluntly.

She shut her eyes as she absorbed his words, her brows furrowing in grief and sorrow. Silence passed between them for an extended period of time before she opened her eyes again to look at him. There was no anger in her eyes. She was too overwhelmed by sadness to be angry. “Why..? I just want to know.. I need to know why.” She croaked out, her voice breaking as she burst into silent sobbing, gasping for breath occasionally when she forgot to breathe. He regarded her in silence for a moment, looking into the blue of her eyes that glinted in the reflection of her tears, momentarily entranced by it.

Finally, he replied. “When I realized I could not bring myself to destroy you, I knew that a part of Skywalker would always survive so long as you lived, so I came up with an alternative method of destruction – to destroy who you are. To subjugate you. To warp your mind until you fell before my influence, and the person of Ahsoka Tano is gone. And with it, the last link that ties me to Anakin Skywalker.” He allowed the words to sink in before continuing, the look of horror and sadness evident in her expression as she took in the full extent of his declaration. “I began with your friends and severed the tie that connected you to them. Now, you have nothing. And I am free to mold your mind to my will. And when all is done, and you’re finally tamed – you will kneel at my feet and once again call me master.”

Her eyes were wide open, her features colored with disbelief, shock, and horror as he revealed his intentions. He could feel her distress through the Force despite her attempt to disguise them. She could not hide from him. Finally, she looked up at him and narrowed her eyes in determination, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I will never break.” He regarded her with a slight tilt of his head, despite the discomfort it brought to him. He stepped closer to her and stared her down, and he could feel her desperately trying not to show fear, but his overwhelming presence bore down on her heavily, and he could see the breath catch in her chest, her pupils dilating in distress as the darkness of his aura seeped through her – a taste of his power.

“We shall see.” He said confidently -- his voice cold, intimidating, and devoid of any semblance of feeling. He could feel her unease, his commanding demeanor unnerving her, as well as the confidence with which he spoke. He allowed her to squirm under the pressure for a moment before pulling back to the center of the room, turning around towards the entrance of the cell. “I wanted to thank you. In a way, you did succeed. You brought back a part of me I thought lost. Just not the part of me you intended. For years, I’ve been content to stew in my own misery, crawling through the mud while the Emperor rose to new heights on my back.”

He again turned to face her, his unwavering gaze fixed on her once more. “But no longer. You have awakened my ambition for something more. My appetite for power. And for this, I salute you. No longer will I be ground to the dirt under his heel. I will destroy him as I’d intended all those years ago, and when it is done, and the sun sets on the old world and rises on my new one – you will have the privilege of being servant to the new Emperor of the galaxy.”

He looked at her, expecting a response, some form of resistance or outrage at his remark, yelling that she’ll never serve him. But it never came. She simply stared at him in silence, tears still wet on her cheeks. Finally, he turned around and walked over to the exit to leave. “Everything you said..” He stopped in his tracks, turning his head to the side to listen to whatever she had to say. “Your feelings for me.. Was it all a lie?” He allowed the question to fill the room for a moment, staying still in front of the force field that shielded the entrance.

“No, all of that which was said was true. To Anakin Skywalker. But he is dead. You should’ve run away with him when he asked. You’ll never get the chance again.” He could see her head lower in defeat out of the corner of his vision, and he turned to face the exit, stepping out as the force field lowered and then shut behind him.

As he walked away and made his way out of the cell block, he had only a single thing on his mind.

Overthrowing the Emperor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! I hope you like where I'm taking the story. I know it's probably a lot darker than some of you might like, but I hope you enjoy it still. I did say basically from the beginning the story would be pretty dark, so don't say I didn't warn you. At least there's always the alternative ending I'll be making if you don't like where things are headed.
> 
> The next chapters will also be very dark. Surprise, surprise. I don't know when I'll have time to write them. The plan I have for them is very vague, and I don't think I can keep slamming out a chapter every 3 days. So all I can say is, I'll write it when I write it. We'll see.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, it's funny. When I finished the last chapter, I was actually worried I wouldn't be able to write this one for a good while because of how little I had planned for it. When I first tried writing it, I was basically struggling to write anything at all. But after lying in bed and not being able to sleep, the story of the chapter began to take form in my head, and it almost made my sleep deprivation worth it. And here we are, only 2 days after I posted the last chapter.
> 
> This chapter felt.. Different when writing it, and maybe it'll feel the same way to you when you read it. I just hope it's different in a good way. 
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, I present to you the showdown between Vader and the Emperor. I hope I did it justice.

_“I said, my Padawan is in there. Now step aside.” His patience was quickly running out. This was unbelievable. Standing there in the prison ward as he ‘negotiated’ with Commander Fox through the glass in the lobby, he had to do his utmost not to neglect the formalities all together and force his way in to see her. He was getting tired of pretending as if they had any say in what he did or any chance in stopping him. “General Skywalker. Admiral Tarkin has ordered that no one be allowed in there.”  His fist clenched together, balling it up at his side in anger as he desperately tried to keep himself in check. All of this was just some sick joke. She was clearly innocent, even if nobody else wanted to see it. They just saw what everybody else wanted them to. But not him. He saw clearly._

_“I don’t care what she’s accused of. Let. Me. **In**.” He pressed the index finger of his mechanical hand against the glass to emphasize his point, his eyes narrowing onto him in anger, and he could see Fox clearly flinch under his unwavering gaze. But the clones were nothing if not brave. He saw him look to the side and nod towards someone, and as if on que, he heard the crackling sound of two electrostaffs blazing to life, and he looked over his shoulder at the approaching prison guard in possession of one of them, and then to the one on the other side of him in possession of the other. “I’m sorry, sir. The admiral’s orders stand. This is now a military operation, and under his jurisdiction.”_

_He returned his gaze to Commander Fox, his brows furrowing in anger as he looked at the irritating clone trooper. They were always programmed to be brave, but this right here was bordering dangerously close on foolishness. Did they really think that these two troopers could stop him with their stupid little glow sticks? And Fox, he had no idea the wrath he could inflict upon him. His hand clenched and unclenched restlessly as the urge to throw the troopers away and choke Fox through the glass was almost overwhelming. But then he thought about Ahsoka, and his Jedi training won out over his impulse. If he forced his way in, they’d be sure to condemn her even more than they already have. She’d look even more guilty. He couldn’t do that to her._

_He reigned his anger in just as it began to spill over and in between the cracks of his composure, and he very slowly backed up past the clone troopers on other side of him, his legs moving stiffly as the muscles tensing in his body almost kept him glued in place, stubbornly trying to change his mind against his will. He nudged aside one of the troopers as he brushed up against him, staring him down as he continued to walk away, and again he saw that trooper also flinch underneath his intimidating gaze. Hesitantly, he turned on his heels and walked out the exit with every ounce of his willpower before he unleashed hell upon them._

_They don’t know just how lucky they are._

_-_

It was time. As he made his way down the corridor and to the throne room of the Death Star to confront his master, he thought back to the preparations he’d made in advance of the up coming conflict. He’d done the best he could with the limited time constraints, but with time being of the essence, he had to rush through some things or risk Palpatine finding out about his intentions. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the suit was archaic, and specifically designed to stop him from rebelling against his master. If he so much as stepped a mechanic toe out of line, Palpatine would only need to blast him with lightning and overload his suit, leaving him a broken, wheezing mess on the ground. If he was to stand a chance against his master, he needed to take precautions.

He could not be that arrogant boy on Mustafar who got too overconfident and then suffered for it in the most spectacular way possible. He was more powerful than he had been then, but he’d never reach his full potential after the events that took place in his duel against Obi-Wan thanks to the injuries he’d sustained that day. Still, he was certain he could overpower his master. Everything depended on it. If he’d had more time, he would’ve overgone surgery to properly fix his lungs and trachea and made an entirely new suit that actually helped fix his weaknesses instead of limiting and over-cumbering him. But he simply didn’t have that advantage. It was only a matter of time before Palpatine realized his intentions, and he needed to act before then, or risk losing the upper hand.

He’d upgraded his existing suit the best he could to make the breathing apparatus more functional and his suit less vulnerable to lightning, and that had to be enough. He could not wait any longer. For years he’d been as much of a slave to the Emperor as he had been to the Jedi and as a boy on Tatooine. But no longer. He’d never be slave to anyone ever again. He was his own master, and when this was done, master of all the galaxy. All he had to do was keep his mind on the task, and his instincts sharp.

The doors to the throne room slid open, and he walked inside, making his way over to the center of the room and kneeling down on the floor, bowing his head in deference to his soon-to-be-former master. “Lord Vader.” He looked up as the Emperor addressed him, dragging out his words as he always did. “What was so important that had you come all the way out here to tell me in person?” He did his best to keep his feelings level, and his mind closed off. The Emperor had always been good at sensing his thoughts and feelings, and if he managed to do so again, the whole plan would be compromised.

“I have news, master. I have crushed a rebel outpost on the planet of Atollon, and my slicers have recovered information on the rebellion, including coordinates to other rebel outposts. The rebels are none the wiser.” There was a moment of silent after he spoke, and with him being so on edge, he had to resist the urge to shift uncomfortably in his kneeling position.

“This is good news, my friend. Finally, with their whereabouts no longer hidden from us, we can crush the rebellion once and for all.” The Emperor rose to his feet. “There is only one problem.” He lowered his head, desperate to give nothing away as Palpatine began to walk the steps down to meet with him. “Do you take me for a fool?” He didn’t budge, his entire body remaining firmly still as the Emperor finally made his way down to the bottom of the steps and walked over to him, wrapping around to the side of him while he spoke. “Your feeble schemes to overthrow me were pitifully obvious from their inception.” His adrenaline began to pump in fear at his words, his reflexes heightening in preparation, priming his body to jump at the slightest provocation. “Even in my own Empire I have spies imbedded within your ranks. They have told me of your actions on Atollon, including Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice’s role in it.”

The Emperor wrapped around behind him, and he covertly bent his hand down behind his cloak to reach for his lightsaber clipped to his belt as discreetly as possible. “It is a shame. Normally I would applaud your loyalty to me in having manipulated her so effectively to find the rebels, but I know now your actions were not to my benefit. You have forgotten your place, Lord Vader. Now I will remind you.” He quickly ignited his lightsaber and jumped to his feet, turning around too late as he was immediately enveloped in torrents of lightning, his lightsaber flying out from his hand as he collapsed onto all fours from the sheer power of the electricity flowing through his veins.

Pain. Excruciating pain. Every nerve in his body was set aflame, and he could do nothing except use the Force to fortify his body in an attempt to dampen the bulk of the attack the best he could. After what felt like forever, the lightning ceased, and he could almost feel the smoke rising from his scorched armor. If he hadn’t upgraded his suit, he’d have been reduced to a wheezing mess already. He could faintly see the Emperor wrap back around and walk up the stairs to his throne while he lied there on all fours trying to recover, and he slowly raised his head to look up at him where he stood at the top of the steps. “It is of no consequence. You have done what I required of you. In locating the rebels, you have fulfilled your purpose, and are now obsolete.”

Shakily, he rose to his feet, staring up at him defiantly. “Now, young Skywalker – you will die.” He quickly stepped forward to try to begin to close the distance between them, but again he was enveloped by a flood of lightning. But he would not be subdued so easily. He raised his arms up in front of him to try and take the brunt of the lightning crashing against him, and he pressed forward, trying to brute force his way through the overwhelming flood of pure Force energy. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Four steps. Five steps. Six steps. He began to slow, his armor incinerating from the extended exposure to the Emperor’s Force lightning. Seven steps. Eight steps. Nine steps.

Finally, he could take no more. He fell to one knee, his nervous system flooded with the electricity coursing through him, but still the endless stream of lightning did not stop. He wasn’t strong enough. He was never strong enough. As he was torched from the inside out by the Emperor’s lightning, he drifted into his thoughts, his eyes shutting closed underneath his mask as he allowed his feelings to overwhelm him.

-

**_Fear._ **

_“Will I ever see you again?” His mother smiled at him, and for a moment it helped ease the worry in the pit of his stomach. “What does your heart tell you?” She asked him in her soft, motherly voice. He shifted his gaze downwards for a moment, his feelings an avalanche of chaotic turmoil. But he felt something. Almost a sense of hope. “I hope so.. Yes.” He let out a morose puff of air in nervous amusement. “I guess..” Again, she smiled at him, this time even wider. “Then we will see each other again.” Her smile faded, and even she couldn’t hide the worry in her expression. When he saw that look on her face, he made both her and himself a promise. “I will come back and free you, mom.”_

_“I promise.”_

**_Anger._ **

_“Ani? Is that you?” Her voice was weak, hoarse. As if she’d been without water for days. He cradled her injured form against his chest, staring into her eyes. “I’m here, mom. You’re safe.” She looked up at him blankly. “Ani..? Ani?” She repeated his nickname as if in shock, not trusting her eyes. He allowed himself to smile at her use of his childhood nickname. She weakly raised her hand up to his face, sweeping a thumb against his cheek in a comforting gesture. “Oh, you look so handsome.” Her voice was full of pride only a mother could have towards her child. He tilted his head into her hand, kissing her palm, his brows furrowing in bitter joy._

_“My son.” He looked up again, chancing another look into her eyes as he desperately tried to ignore the far-away look in them. “Oh, my grown-up son. I’m so proud of you, Ani.” His heart lurched inside him in sadness. Guilt. He should never have left her. He should’ve come back sooner. “I missed you.” He said sadly, feeling the tears coming on, his mouth trembling as he tried to hold them back. He needed to be strong. For her. “Now I am complete.” She said softly, and he again smiled in being able to have brought her that joy. She opened her mouth, and he could see her struggling to speak._

_“I love..” She trailed off, her voice breaking. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. He held her even tighter, shifting her closer against his chest. He put on a fake smile with a confidence he most definitely wasn’t feeling. He’d save her. He had to. “Stay with me, mom. Everything- “. It was his turn to trail off, cracking under the sadness. But he didn’t look away. “I love-..” She still struggled to say the words, and he prayed with every fiber of his being towards any greater entity that could be listening that he hears her say the words. He smiled as she tried to utter them._

_“I-I love..” His smile faded as quickly as it came, all joy sapped from him as he saw her eyes go blank, and her expressions with it. Her head lolled back, eyes wide open, and devoid of life. He watched in disbelief, finally breaking as any hope he had died with her, and tears began to stream down from his eyes. With the last calm left in him, he brought his hand over her face and closed her eyes softly with two fingers. His sadness quickly started to morph into something entirely else. And he would exact every ounce of what he was feeling onto the monsters that had taken his mother away from him._

**_Hate._ **

_As Padmé stood in front of him, sobbing while she whispered claims to love, the familiar heat of Mustafar enveloping him – his eyes were drawn to one thing. Obi-Wan. There he stood at the top of the boarding ramp, hands on his hips as he looked at him with that righteous gaze of his. It filled him with hatred that blazed hotter than even the lava around him. “Stop. Stop now, come back. I love you!” She desperately pleaded with him, and her claims to love fell on deaf ears as he was met with the undeniable truth right in front of him. He stepped to the side and looked back at her with his smoldering gaze. She’d betrayed him. “ **Liar!** ”_

_She looked over to where Obi-Wan was as he began to calmly walk down the ramp with a confident stride. “No!” He ignored her pleading, her plan to betray him collapsing all around her. She backed up in fear, and he advanced accordingly. “You’re with him! You brought him here to kill me.” His body raised his hand of its own will and tightened it as he wrapped an invisible grip around her throat. “No- “. She was cut off as he sealed off her airway, and all she could do was shake her head._

_“Let her go, Anakin!” He ignored him as he continued to choke the life out of Padmé, his hatred consuming him and fueling his every move. “Anakin..” She whispered out._

_“Let. Her. Go.” Some measure of self-awareness flooded his senses, and he released his hold over her, watching as she collapsed to the ground unconscious. He stared at her crumpled form on the platform, and for a moment he felt guilt over what he’d done, but it was      quickly replaced by hatred as he remembered what she’d done and turned his gaze to look at the cause of it. Obi-Wan. He’d betrayed him, just as Padmé had._

_And he’d die for it._

**_Suffering._ **

_“Lord Vader. Can you hear me?” He heard the familiar voice of his oldest friend turned Sith Lord to the side, almost missing it as he was momentarily entranced by the sound of his own mechanical breathing. Finally, he spoke. But not in his own voice. In another. “Yes, master.” Immediately, his thoughts shifted to his wife, and he tilted his head uncomfortably to the side to look at Palpatine. “Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she all right?” He asked hesitantly in trepidation. Despite what she’d done, he still loved her, and he needed to know she was fine._

_“It seems, in your anger, you killed her.” He heard him say, and he felt his world collapse around him. “I.. I couldn’t have. She was alive, I felt it!” He was filled with unimaginable suffering, and he unleashed it on everything around him, raw power emanating from him as metal bent to his will, crushing the pipes, walls, and droids around him. He ripped his shackled prosthetic arms off the surgery table and clunkily stepped off it onto level ground, groaning at the pain of the metal legs burrowing into what remained of his limbs._

_“Nooooo!”_

_-_

The world faded back in around him. Everyone in his life. His mother, his wife, his best friend who had practically been like a brother to him – they’d all betrayed him, left him. But as he thought about all the people in his life, his thoughts were inevitably drawn to the one person that haunted his every waking moment, a constant living, breathing reminder of the person he had been and what he’d done.

Ahsoka.

_“I have to sort this out on my own. Without the council.. And without you.”_

His eyes shot open, and he was filled with raw determination and the blazing hatred that dwarfed even the combined intensity of that of a thousand suns. Slowly, he tilted his head up to look directly into the torrents of lightning that washed over him and through it to lock his gaze onto Palpatine who had his hands outstretched towards him, blasting him with lightning. He clenched his fists together, and every muscle in his body tensed, his body pulsing with immense energy that continued to steadily grow as it flowed through him – suffusing every midi-chlorian cell left in his body with the Force to their fullest capacity until they were brimming with power.

He pulled his arms closer to his body, crossing them together before bursting up to his feet and throwing his hands up, releasing ripples of rapidly-expanding kinetic energy in every direction with a massive spherical explosion of the Force, throwing Palpatine way off-balance and flying backwards as an enormous hole erupted in the windowed dome of the throne room from the blast. Every object not nailed to the floor around him was flung back, the glass shattering and crumbling down to the floor while electricity sparked from the mechanical objects in the walls. Chunks of metal debris toppled down to the floor. He dug his metal feet into the ground as he felt the suction of space momentarily envelop him and try to absorb him, and he saw Palpatine try the same as he clung onto the top step of the stairs for dear life.

After a few seconds, the emergency blast doors closed firmly shut over the gaps, and his hold on the ground eased. He straightened his posture, once again rising to his full height and he looked over towards where Palpatine was crumpled up at the top of the stairs and was also now getting up. He took a deep breath as the Emperor got up to his feet, and he looked at him in anger. He could see the terror light up in Palpatine’s eyes – his false confidence gone and his cowardice once again filling the gap. Immediately, Palpatine sent another burst of Force lightning his way and he simply used the Force to swat it aside with a swipe of his hand, re-directing it into a nearby wall.

He followed up with another desperate burst of Force lightning, and again he swatted it aside with the Force in the opposite direction, leaving a scorch mark on another wall. He finally began to advance on the Emperor, and he extended his left hand forward with an open palm once he saw Palpatine prepare to unleash another avalanche of lightning his way. As the lightning shot out from the Emperor’s fingertips, he channeled the Force to draw the electrical energy into his body through his left palm, absorbing it entirely and diffusing it to negate the effect completely. He threw out his right hand towards his lightsaber and pulled it to his hand with the Force while still blocking the Emperor’s lightning.

It was time to end this. He closed his left hand that had been absorbing the lightning, using the Force to crush the Emperor’s hands and close them shut to stop the stream of lightning before using the same hand to pull him towards him, thrusting out with his lightsaber and igniting it just in time to plunge it into Palpatine’s torso as he was pulled forward into it. The crackling hum of his lightsaber as it sizzled against the Emperor’s insides brought him immense satisfaction while he stared into his awe-stricken eyes, the lightsaber burning away flesh, bone and cloth all the same. He savored the look on the Emperor’s face a moment longer, his mouth agape and eyes wide before turning off the lightsaber and watching him drop to the floor. He stood still as he watched him try and crawl away, the terrible screeching noise of his sharp nails scratching against the metal floor almost making him flinch. “You’re dying, but do not despair. You will live until you have felt the pain I have felt.”

He raised his left hand upwards, using the Force to lift the Emperor into the air in front of him, Palpatine’s face scrunching up as he once again faked confidence. “You were destined to destroy m-..”  He quickly ignited his lightsaber and in one clean sweep, severed his legs at the knees before he could finish speaking. He didn’t deserve the privilege of last words. He wasn’t about to allow him to spout some shit that his death was destined. No, he decided to kill him. Fate or destiny had nothing to do with it. Destiny was merely the conduit of his will. He savored the shouts of agony from him before dropping him to the floor again, watching as he pathetically flopped over onto his stomach and continued to try and crawl away.

He walked over to his side, staring down at him, and Palpatine desperately reached an arm up towards him to plead for his life. “Plea-..” He swung his lightsaber and cut off the arm that reached for him at the elbow, and he screamed in pain, clutching at the wound with his remaining arm as he rolled over onto his back. The Emperor would have died from the injuries and shock long ago if he wasn’t continuously using a portion of his power to sustain his life long enough to torture him. He lazily extended his hand out towards Palpatine’s prone form on the ground and used the Force to rip his arm off his wound and up into the air, severing it at the elbow as he did its twin.

He looked at the limbless creature on the floor writhing in pain for a moment before raising him up with the Force and forcefully slamming him into a seated position on his throne. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the armless, legless ‘Emperor’ in disdain. “All my life, you manipulated me, tortured me, used me. You destroyed everything I held dear. But in doing so, you have made me the most powerful man in the galaxy. And for this, I salute you. When I’ve finished killing you, and the smoke clears, the Empire you forged off my back will be mine. And I’ll personally see to it that your name forever fades from the face of history.”

He savored the look of terror in Palpatine’s eyes before raising his hand up. “Now, you have my permission to die.” With a snap of his fingers, he effortlessly used the Force to microscopically rub together the air molecules around the former Emperor, creating friction until he burst into flames as he had himself all those years ago on Mustafar.

He stared at the limbless torso writhe in pain as he burned to death on the throne, entranced by the flame. It was all so surreal. After all this time, after everything he’d done – Palpatine was finally dead. When the flames died down, and all that remained was the blackened scorched corpse of the former Emperor, he no longer felt satisfaction. He felt nothing. No joy, no satisfaction, no pleasure. He was utterly, completely **_numb_**. Around him was everything he’d ever wanted. Palpatine was dead, the Empire was his, and he was the most powerful person in the galaxy.

And it all felt empty.

He craned his head forward, his expression cold and blank underneath his helmet, and he shed a tear. He cried for everything he’d been, and everything he’d never be. For all that he’d had, and all that he’d lost. For all that he’d felt, and all that he’d never feel. When his eyes dried, and the turmoil inside him faded away into nothingness – he knew in that moment..

He’d never feel anything again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that ending was a bit depressing. I'd actually planned to fit more of the story into this chapter but when I got to that point, it kind of felt fitting to end it there. 
> 
> Only three chapters left until I wrap up the story. When I first started writing I hadn't even expected it to be anything more than a one-shot, let alone write 7 chapters in the span of 2 weeks. It's quite something. I'm glad I did do it, though. 
> 
> I hope the story still holds your interest. As always I'd be happy to hear what you guys think so I know what you think with how things are going. 
> 
> But for real this time, the next chapters probably won't come for a while. I've got very little planned, and what I do have planned is very dark and it will be hard for me to write, and probably just as hard for you to read. Also some real life stuff is starting to pick up momentum again, so I won't be able to write these as quickly as I have been. 
> 
> But until then, I just wanted to say thank you for your support. It means a lot to me.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back. Sorry for the long hiatus, but I did warn you. I've just been super swamped with real life stuff I was having trouble finding the time to get this chapter out, and also wasn't sure on how I was going to make this chapter the way I'd envisioned it. I feel like I got pretty lazy in some places, but at this point I kind of just want to finish this story, and if I keep pushing it back I feel like I might just forget about it, which I don't want to happen. I want to be able to finish this so I can move on to other stories. This story was only ever meant to be practice for me to begin with, as this is my first fanfiction, but it kind of got quite a bit past that.
> 
> I actually finished this chapter a while ago, but I wasn't really happy with it when compared to the last two chapters, which were definitely my favorites to write. But in the end I knew that I'm not going to reach perfection, and not every chapter can be as 'exciting' and action-packed as those. So I just decided to go with it.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 8.

_“Cody, any word from the Separatist commander?” She briefly cast a sideways glance in Obi-Wan’s direction at the sound of his voice, her gaze flicking in between him and Commander Cody for a moment before returning to what she was doing. “He’s barricaded inside. His name is Darts D’nar. He has sent you a message, sir.” She paid the conversation no mind and continued to fiddle with the mechanism, her ears only perking up at the sound of a rough voice, and she spared another passing glance towards the holorecording for a split second to confirm the source, immediately returning to her tinkering with the red device while she listened to it in the background. “Master Kenobi, come to the tower. We will negotiate terms for surrender.”_

_“Well, that was easy.” A swish of the Force, and the sound of metal being crushed caused her attention to divert completely from what she was doing, and she looked up to see Anakin tossing aside what she could only assume to be the holocommunicator Cody had been holding which now was broken. “Zygerrian **scum**. I’ll handle that slaver.” The anger and hatred with which he spoke almost made her recoil. It was so different from the usual kindness and compassion that colored the tone of his voice. She squinted at him, studying his features. His brows were furrowed in anger, every muscle in his face seemed tense, and the blazing intensity in his eyes almost sent a shiver down her spine._

_“Anakin, he asked for me. I need you to locate the missing Togruta colonists.” She saw him shut his eyes for a moment and take a shallow breath, and the tension in his features seemed to diminish slightly. “Fine. I’ll have Admiral Yularen initiate a planetary bio-scan.” Her eyes followed him as he began to leave, noting the stiff way in which he walked, the tension clear in his high-strung shoulders. She got up as R2-D2 passed by her and walked over to Obi-Wan. “Why is he so upset?” He turned to face her as she walked up, and she could see the conflicted look on his face. “Anakin has never talked about his past, has he?”_

_She thought back to try and recall any event in which he’d divulged any personal information to her, only to come up empty almost instantly. “Only to tell me he won’t talk about it.” Obi-Wan sighed quietly under his breath before speaking, his eyes trailing off to the side in the direction Anakin went. “As a child, Anakin and his mother were sold into slavery by the Hutt clans.”_

_She furrowed her brows in confusion for a moment. ‘So? What did that have to do with..?’ Her thoughts trailed off, and she frowned, her head lowering as realization washed over her. “Oh.. And these Zygerrians, they’re slavers?” She looked back up at Obi-Wan, and she could see the worry lines on his forehead. She found it comforting that there was another Jedi who had such compassion like her master did._

_“Anakin has struggled to put his past behind him.” She sighed, her gaze lowering to the ground for a moment. No wonder he was always so closed off to her about his past. The memory of his life as a slave must still haunt him every day. She couldn’t say she blamed him. With some of her own people having been sold into slavery, she could only imagine the trauma that could inflict on a person’s psyche. She looked up once more and over to where Anakin stood with R2 acting as a holocommunicator for his conversation with the Admiral. To say he looked displeased would be an understatement._

_“Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on him.” In the time she’d known him, he’d looked out for her and just about everyone else under his command. It was about time someone did the same for him. To carry the weight of the world on one’s shoulders isn’t something she’d wish on anybody. Especially him. “Yes..” She heard him say, and she shifted her attention back to Obi-Wan, and she’d carry his next words with her forever._

_“Make sure you do.”_

_-_

Distraught. That was the only word she could find that could even come close to what she was feeling. And even that did her feelings a massive disservice. No amount of Jedi training in the world could’ve prepared her for what she was feeling right now. The time spent since Vader left her cell had been used to do one of three things – crying, trying not to think about all that had happened, and working up the courage to confront what **had** happened. She’d been so sure that she could bring Anakin back. That she was enough to bring back the good in him. She’d just been kidding herself. Of course she wasn’t enough. She’d been stupid to think she was.

To think that she alone was enough to bring back Anakin and help him overcome all that had happened to him and all that he’d done.. It was arrogance. Nothing more, nothing less. And now she was forced to face the consequences of her actions. Her friends dead or imprisoned, and the entire rebellion compromised. All because of her. Because of her selfishness. How was she supposed to live with that? With the knowledge that she was directly responsible for the deaths of her friends? And Ezra.. She began tearing up at the thought of seeing his unmoving body on the floor, Vader hovering over his corpse with his lightsaber in hand.  She closed her eyes as she thought back to what he’d said.

_“Your feelings for me.. Was it all a lie?”_

_“No, all of that which was said was true. To Anakin Skywalker. But he is dead. You should’ve run away with him when he asked. You’ll never get the chance again.”_

Her lips began to tremble as she broke out into sobs again, no longer able to hold back the weight of everything that had transpired from collapsing down on top of her. She couldn’t breathe. She could only cry. The only breathing she did were the shallow breaths she took to allow her to cry some more. She stayed that way for what felt like hours, until finally there were no more tears left to cry. Her feelings overwhelmed her until she just felt numb. Numb from the pain, the sorrow, the regret, the guilt – all of it. She didn’t know what to do anymore. She wasn’t sure there was anything left for her **to** do. She thought she’d found her purpose in trying to save Anakin, but after what he did she knew in her heart the truth she’d tried so desperately to deny.

There was no saving him.

Darth Vader had truly killed Anakin Skywalker. All that was left now was a monster in his place. She tried to cherish the brief moments when Anakin appeared to her through Vader’s facade, but the memory was tainted by the events that took place after. All she had were memories, and even those were nothing but bitter to her soul. She thought back to the promise she’d made on Malachor. That she wouldn’t leave Anakin again. But Anakin was dead, and she owed Vader nothing. He’d been right about one thing, though. She really did have nothing now. She had no reason to stay, and no reason to leave. She’d never been more uncertain about what to do with her life.

What would she even do if she left? Where would she go? There was nowhere for her to go. Nothing for her to do. Vader had made sure of that. She had no motivation, no drive, no goal. It was like she was just rooted firmly to one spot. No, it was like she was floating stationary in space, and only an outside shove could decide the direction she went. And that’s exactly what Vader intended. He’d gotten exactly what he wanted. He’d made sure that he was all that she had left. He’d counted on this happening. Without a center to hold her, without purpose, her emotions had spiraled into chaos and naturally gravitated towards the only thing she had left. And she wasn’t sure she had the will to fight the current. What was the point?

Can’t live with him, can’t live without him.

She could defy him. She **should** defy him. But to what end? Fight him, flee from him – the result will be the same. There was no version of this where she came out on top. She’d already lost. Normally when she was met with failure, she’d just pick herself up and brush herself off like Anakin had taught her. But there was no brushing this off. There was no way forward. She’d poured her heart and soul, devoted everything she had to saving Anakin from himself – and she’d paid for it. Her friends had paid for it. She was broken. She’d given her all, and she’d lost it all.

She was tired and exhausted from all the turmoil she was experiencing, and without knowing it she slowly drifted into sleep’s embrace.

-

Her eyes suddenly shot open, and she practically sprung up into a seated position on the metal bench, panting heavily as she felt waves of overwhelming pain flood through every fiber of her being. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. But it wasn’t **her** pain. It was Anakin. He was back. She could feel him through their bond stronger and clearer than ever before, and she wished she didn’t. His pain bore down on her so heavily she felt her muscles trembling and she fell to the floor when they finally gave out, no longer able to hold herself up under the crushing weight of what she felt from him. Such pain. Such anger, sorrow, guilt, regret. It was too much to bear. She curled up on the floor, pulling her knees to her chest and pressed her palms against her head as she struggled to withstand everything she felt from him. The world around her seemed to fade to black until her vision was filled with nothing but darkness, her brain screamed at her as if being crushed under the pressure.

Finally, it relented. Her vision was restored, and she could feel her strength slowly returning to her. She weakly pushed herself up to her knees as she took a moment to try and recover. When she regained control of her senses, she shook her head to clear the fog in her mind. She hesitantly prodded through the Force bond again, only to feel nothing. It’s as if the bond between them had been severed. Something had happened. Anakin had come back stronger than ever, and then suddenly disappeared entirely. Her heart sunk as she realized what it meant. Even on Malachor she could feel Anakin through their Force bond, despite how weak it had become, but now she felt absolutely nothing. She couldn’t reach him. It could only mean one thing.

Anakin was really gone.

Despite all of Vader’s claims to Anakin being dead, she knew a part of him had still lived somewhere deep inside him. She could feel it. But now, she felt nothing. It was really true now. Anakin Skywalker had officially ceased to exist, and all that was left of the man she loved was the empty armored husk that carried around his crippled form. She wanted to cry, to grieve. But she couldn’t. Not yet. She knew now what she had to do. If Anakin was ever to find peace, then Vader had to be destroyed.

 

** Vader: **

He couldn’t hear anything around him except for the sound of his eerie mechanical breathing. It was as if all the sound in the world had faded out of his perception. He could feel the blood pulsing in his veins, hear his heart pumping it through his body in his ears, but little else. He felt as if his senses were heightened but could only perceive the sensations of his own body. What was left of it, anyway. He looked up towards what remained of the Emperor’s scorched body on the throne, but he couldn’t see anything else around him. The peripheral of his vision, everything he could see out of the corner of his eyes was shrouded by darkness. The single, clear thing in his mind’s eye was the throne. The ultimate seat of power in the Empire.

He shook his head and threw his hand out towards the corpse, lazily hurling it aside with the Force as he ascended up the steps to the throne. As he reached the top, he turned around to look down at the room. He could see why Palpatine liked this view, to be able to look down at everyone as if they were inferior to him in every way. He could see the appeal. The whole world at his feet. He himself knew what it was to look down at people that way – to look at people as if they were insects unworthy of his attention. But the difference was his power earned him that privilege, while Palpatine did not. He’d been clever, that much was true. To hide himself from the Jedi for years, manipulating a galaxy wide war to his advantage and rising as Emperor of the world. But he never could’ve done so without him.

He was the one who forged him an Empire, destroyed his enemies. And in return, he crippled him. Enslaved him to his will. But now Palpatine was dead, and he was not. It was time to take his rightful place in the galaxy. He craned his head to look down at the armrest of the throne and pressed a button on it to open a galaxy wide holo-transmission. When he saw the blinking light that meant it was broadcasting, he began his announcement.

“Citizens of the Empire. The Emperor is dead, destroyed by my own hands. I have done this because it was necessary. For years, he was content to rise on the backs of the people of the Empire while he spouted unwarranted claims to power. I thought it prevalent to test the credibility of his claims and have deemed him unworthy of the throne he occupied. Some of you might have unfounded beliefs that my actions were but a power struggle, fueled by greed and my own selfish desires. But I assure you, this is not the case. The death of the Emperor will not weaken us, but only make us stronger. The weak must be uprooted to make room for the strong. And a weak man has no place as leader of the Empire.”

He paused, allowing his words to sink in.

“As your new Emperor, I promise you this: The Rebellion and all those who would seek to bring discord to our flourishing Empire, will meet a swift and decisive end. And from their ashes – the Empire shall be rejuvenated like a phoenix from the ashes of the flames, stronger than ever before.”

-

He’d always loved the stars, even as a kid, and as he stood on the bridge of the Star Destroyer staring out into open space – he couldn’t help but admire them. The sparkling beauty. Specks of light in otherwise dark space. His life as Anakin had been much the same. The world around him consumed by darkness, and the light within him like a dying star fading into nothingness. He’d had people to guide him back into the light before. His mother. Padmé. Obi-Wan.

Ahsoka.

He closed his eyes for a moment as his thoughts drifted to her once more as it always did when he allowed his mind to roam. He’d had qualms about what he’d done, and what he was going to do. But no longer. It was clearer to him now more than ever. Anakin Skywalker is dead, and dead he must remain. When it’s all over, and she’s kneeling at his feet at the throne, she’d thank him for what he’d do to her. To relieve her of her delusions and misguided notions of morality. She’d called him master before, and she would again.

He was pulled out of his daydreaming as he heard footsteps echoing throughout the otherwise silent deck of the ship, and he sensed the distinguishing presence of one of the military officers he’d been waiting on. Without looking, he addressed him.

“General. Have you finished preparations?” His voice was cold, steady. There was no room for uncertainty or wavering anymore. He was Emperor now. His struggles with morality were a thing of the past.

“Yes, Emperor. All fleets are ready to jump to hyperspace for orbital bombardment and interception of any rebel fighters attempting to leave the planet, and ground teams are set to disable defenses and lay the groundwork for the siege. We will commence simultaneous attacks on all rebel outposts on your command.” He heard a slight crack in the general’s voice. No doubt fearing what the new Emperor might have in store for him should he fail him. There had been some reluctance to his ascension to the post of Emperor from some high-ranking officials, but those who harbored such skepticism were quickly crushed beneath his boot and made an example of.

And now those who remained followed him like everybody else. Ruling with an iron fist wasn’t given enough credit. It got significant results if you had the power to back it up.

And now that everybody was back in line, he could proceed with the next stage of his plan. He’d successfully manipulated Ahsoka into bringing him to a rebel base while thinking it was her idea, despite Anakin’s annoying attempts to intervene and run away with Ahsoka like a fool. But such setbacks were to be expected when you raise the dead and let the leash of Anakin reign loose upon his revival. A necessary sacrifice. In the end, he’d destroyed Skywalker just as he had before. The Dark Side prevailed as it always did.

And now he reaped the fruits of his labor. The computer archives in the rebel base on Atollon had a great deal of information. Including coordinates to a staggering amount of rebel outposts, and names of rebel sympathizers and collaborators. Combined with the information they already possessed, it was enough to finally track down and destroy them. And with the Emperor dead, he was finally free to secure his new position as Emperor by executing the brutal and instantaneous destruction of the Rebellion in its entirety.

Sure, there were bound to be stragglers, or bases not otherwise listed in the archives – but that was inconsequential. He’d obliterate their strength and root out whatever remained. They’d never again have the power or the resources to oppose them. They would run, or they would die.

Either way, the Rebellion as it stands, dies today.

“You may begin the assault.”

-

It was done. Finally. He could hear the faint sound of the General’s voice echoing in his head, having tuned in enough to listen to the end of his ranting. “...and we received minimal casualties. The assault was a complete success.” The Rebellion was dead, and everything it stood for was pulverized into dust under the Empire’s feet. Despite this, he couldn’t help but feel one thing.

Indifference.

That is, if you could call it a feeling. It was all so underwhelming, so anti-climactic. He thought he’d feel something knowing those pathetic idealists were destroyed, but he didn’t. They were but trivial in the grand scheme of things, blacked out by the shadow of his greatness. He felt a cold rage boiling within him at the thought that they actually considered themselves anything more than a minor speck on the Empire’s radar. Misdirected passion. Such a waste. Reckless pride limned by self-righteousness.  They were nothing, and now he’d proven it.

He nodded in dismissal of the general and continued to stare out into the void of space as he heard the gradually distant sound of his footsteps as he left the bridge. Now that it was over, he’d let his men deal with the clean-up and retrieval of whatever information remained in the computers of any rebel bases that weren’t completely demolished. When it was over he’d make some boring public statement. But for now, he had something more important to tend to.

After taking another moment to himself to admire the stars, he turned on his heels and began to stride down the deck of the ship as he made his way towards the hangar bay.

 

** Ahsoka: **

She shot awake as she heard the force field that shielded the entrance to her cell power down thanks to her Force-attuned senses. Her head swiveled around to the side and she felt an overwhelming sense of dread at the sight of Vader walking into the room, accompanied by the eerie sound of his every mechanical inhale and exhale. It never ceased to unnerve her. She turned her body and threw her legs off the metal bench and onto the ground, facing him in a seated position while she tried to put on a brave face. They found themselves in a staring contest as he looked down at her unwaveringly, and she returned the favor. She found that she was steadily losing.

He said nothing, and neither did she. Like a game of chicken. Who’d back down first and break the silence. She refused to lose, although the childish nature of the situation didn’t escape her notice. She found herself reflexively reaching out through their Force bond, but it remained closed to her.

So, it was really true. Anakin was truly out of reach of her grasp.

She steeled herself. She’d try once more. She owed Anakin that much. With their Force Bond no longer an option, she simply reached out with the Force to try and get a clue to his feelings, feeling very little from the armored giant in front of her. She prodded further, and she didn’t know whether she’d managed to slip past his defenses, or he’d let her past it, but she managed to feel something from him. There was one feeling she felt most of all.

Indifference. But at the root of it all.. A cold, steady rage, lurking under the surface – ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice on whatever poor victim was unfortunate enough to prime it to explode. She breathed in deeply through her nose as she attempted to steady her heartbeat, her hand coming to rest on her left wrist to try and stop the tremors she could feel beginning to prickle underneath her skin. This was getting her nowhere. She needed to break the silence.

She looked him over, and only now seemed to notice the scorch marks on his suit, and the raspy wheezing of his breathe that she’d heard that day when she’d managed to cut off a chunk of his mask. He was clearly in pain, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t even fazed by his armor’s condition. She looked him straight in the visors as she spoke the question on her mind. “..Did you do it?” He didn’t respond at first, and she felt a shiver run down her spine as he looked at her. No, through her. As if peering into her very soul. She let out a shaky breath through her nose, hoping her unease went unnoticed.

“Yes.” He said simply, allowing the meaning of the word to sink in. She closed her eyes for a moment. _‘So, it was done. The Emperor is dead.’_ The relief she felt was overshadowed by the immediate concern she felt after. _‘I need to try to save him from himself one last time. I need to know for certain that there’s no other way.’_ She opened her eyes again and stood up slowly, craning her neck to look up at the towering mass of metal in front of her as she approached. Hesitantly, she reached out a hand to place on his chest, thinking he might stop her, but was emboldened when he made no effort to do so. She felt the cold feel of the metal plate against her finger tips, and she hoped his tie to the dark side wasn’t as strong as the steel that shielded his flesh.

“It’s not too late. Come away with me, like you wanted. We can leave someplace, leave everything behind. The Emperor can’t hurt you anymore. Can’t hurt **us** anymore.” She felt her eyes tearing up as she put everything she had into pleading with him one final time. “Please, I’m begging you. If there’s anything left of the man I love, please let me know now. I need to hear you say it. I need to know there’s a chance.” She snaked her hand upwards and around the crook of his neck, cradling it with her small hand. Hopefully, she looked up into his mask as she waited his answer, preparing for her entire reality to be shattered or saved.

There was an extended silence, and she found what little hope she had steadily retreating back into her to flee the impending disappointment she was about to feel. “There isn’t.” Her eyes closed shut, and her hand slid down to clutch at the cloth fabric underneath his plate, palming and tugging at it in her hand as she leaned in close, resting her forehead against his chest. There was only one thing left to do, and she gathered all that remained of her resolve to bring herself to do it. The tears flowed freely, and she allowed herself to finally mourn the man she loved.

She took quick, deep breaths as she willed herself to do what she needed to do. “Please forgive me, Anakin.” She murmured into his chest before pulling back and reaching her hand out for Vader’s lightsaber, quickly pulling it to her with the Force and igniting it, closing her eyes and swinging it down towards Vader’s head with both hands clutching the weapon.

Nothing. She heard nothing. No scream, no sound of the lightsaber hitting anything. She tried to will her hands to move, but they wouldn’t. She opened her eyes and looked at the crimson lightsaber frozen a couple inches away from his head, and Vader staring forward at it. She tried to budge backwards for another swing but found that her entire body was frozen in place. She let out a whimper in fear as she realized what he’d done. He’d bound her in place with the Force without even lifting a finger. She looked up from the lightsaber and at Vader, fearing his response as she actively tried to break free with help of the Force, but to no avail.

Calmly, Vader reached a hand up to wrap around her right wrist, applying pressure onto the joint as he twisted it to the side until her hand gave out and the lightsaber clattered against the metal ground. “You should shield your thoughts more carefully. I would’ve I’d taught you better.” He said coldly before thrusting his hand out with an open palm and sending her flying backwards into a wall with the Force, before she then fell prone onto the floor face first. “Clearly Anakin’s training was wasted on you.” She knew what he was doing. Goading her, trying to make her angry. But she didn’t care. Because she WAS angry.

She let out a guttural yell before leaping up to her feet and running towards him. He threw his hand out once more, and she prepared to shield herself from another Force Push but instead suddenly halted in place. She grimaced and gritted her teeth as she tried to fight through the pressure of the Force that pressed down and enveloped her limbs. “ **On. Your. Knees.** ” She barely moved a step before he pushed down another layer of pressure on top of her with the Force and she fell to her knees. She had to resist. She couldn’t let him win. “N-No.” She whimpered out, barely managing to lift her knee a centimeter off the ground before her body buckled again entirely under the weight.

He was too strong.

“I will not be denied.” He said confidently, conviction in his voice. Her entire body crumbled under the strength of his power in the Force as he somehow pushed another layer of Force around her body and forced her to fall onto all fours before him, head forcefully bowed to the tyrant before her. She tried to crane her head to look up at him in defiance, but she couldn’t move at all, not even an inch. What was she thinking? He was the Chosen One. He was too strong for her. What was she next to him?

“The Apprentice finally learns her place before me.”

“On her knees.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that's that. Some more callbacks to other movie quotes wise and what not, as per usual. You may have noticed that I've avoided to use names for the high-ranking Imperials, and that's because I don't think I could do their character justice, and the part is so minor anyway I don't see the point in it. 
> 
> Obviously the big part of this chapter is Vader becoming the new Emperor, and him 'wiping out' the Rebellion. I understand there's probably a lot of skepticism on these parts, so I'll do my best to explain. First off, I wasn't sure how to go about making Vader Emperor, or how he'd proceed. I took some inspiration from Arcann's ascension to the throne in the SWTOR game, but where Arcann lied and deceived, I thought Vader would be more forthcoming and just blatantly say that he'd done it. In SWTOR, the people loved their Emperor, but I'm pretty sure there's no lost love between the people and Palpatine.
> 
> The second biggest thing, is Vader wiping out the Rebellion. I didn't want to get too wrapped up around that plot point, and I realize how far-fetched it is that an outpost would have coordinates to so many rebel outposts, but I didn't think it outside the realm of possibility. That being said, as I tried to explain with Vader in internal dialogue, the Rebellion isn't essentially 'destroyed'. There's bound to be stragglers, and bases not listed, but the Rebellion as it now stands is destroyed. Because they've lost a lot of people, resources, and allies. So they can't really oppose the Empire properly anymore. Maybe there'd be some small rebel cells that do minor skirmishes on small Empire bases in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, but not much else. If you have questions, let me know and I'll try to explain.
> 
> Now, as for the next chapter.. I am a bit nervous about things from here on out, as I'm not entirely certain how I want it to go. I'm having doubts about my original vision for it, which I don't want to explain in case I do go with it, but I do hope to get it out a lot faster than it took me to write this chapter. We'll see!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the fuck do you spell rendezvous? 
> 
> Anyway, I don't have much to say this time around, so let's just jump right into it.

_She struggled against the bat-like creature’s grip as it soared through the air with her in its grasp, its talons wrapped tightly around both her arms with enough force to snap a tree trunk in half, or at the very least splinter it. She had to apply the majority of her concentration to fortify her strength with the Force just to keep her muscles and bones from caving in, but still she found the time to try and pry herself free from the monstrous creature the best she could. She looked down towards the surface of whatever planet this was, and upon noticing just how high above the ground she was she ceased her attempts to try and break free for the time being. Not even the Force would be enough to dampen that fall. It’d shatter every bone in her body, if it didn’t kill her instantly, that is. She spared a glance in Obi-Wan’s direction who also was caught in the talons of a different, yet similar creature who seemed to have adopted the shape of an eagle-like creature. It glowed ethereally, and its beauty was almost entrancing._

_It was a sharp contrast opposed to the jet-black skin of the monster that was holding her, with only streaks of dark red to distinguish the creature from the black of the night. She was almost startled as it suddenly let out a screech, and she looked down to see what she could only describe to be some sort of colosseum of sorts with weird shapes carved into the ground. From above it looked a bit like the sun and the moon were captured in one another’s embrace, flowing and warping around the other in tandem, as if day and night battled for dominance. She squinted at two distant forms standing in the middle, and while she couldn’t make out their features she could sense immediately that one of them was Anakin. She could never mistake his unique presence for anyone else._

_Finally, they began to descend down to their level, and as soon as her feet touched the ground she managed to pry her left arm out of the creature’s gasp, although it’d probably let her. She looked up towards the shapes, and her suspicions were immediately proven correct as she saw her master looking over at her with a look of concern mixed with confusion. Just past him she could make out Obi-Wan on the other side of the ‘colosseum’, still trapped in the eagle’s talons. She returned her gaze back to Anakin, and after a brief glance to the humanoid form that seemed to tower over even her master, she immediately decided she didn’t trust him._

_The monster that held her let out another screech, and she began to shout in order to be heard over its menacing shriek. She had to warn him. “Whatever he wants, don’t do it, master!” As soon as she spoke the words, she barely suppressed a cry of pain as the creature’s talons constricted even tighter around her arm, and she thought the bone might snap under the pressure. Clearly, it didn’t like her trying to convince Anakin to go against whatever it was they wanted. She saw Anakin turn to look over towards Obi-Wan, who also struggled against his captor in relative silence – only grunting from the effort._

_The gryphon-eagle hybrid let out a cry, but it wasn’t nearly as unnerving as its counterpart. “Let them go. I will not play your games!” She looked over at Anakin as he spoke, his voice rough as he threatened the man who upon closer inspection seemed to look mostly human. He was wearing some ridiculous hat which under any other circumstances she would’ve laughed at, and he had a long white beard that almost reached his stomach. His eyes didn’t look right, but from a distance she couldn’t quite make out why._

_“Oh, but I think you will. I have ordered my children to kill your friends.” The lanky robed man began to circle Anakin as he spoke. ‘His children? What the kriff was this place?’ She pondered to herself before continuing to listen to the conversation._

_“The question is..” She blinked, and suddenly he was gone as Anakin began to turn to look behind him. She blinked twice more in disbelief, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating. What had just happened? She saw Anakin look up somewhere, and she followed his gaze to see where he now stood on a platform high above them with one arm behind him. As she looked at where the humanoid figure stood, she began to wonder exactly what the nature of the structure around them was. Was this some sort of arena? If she squinted, she could almost believe that the higher platforms could be utilized as a spectator podium._

_She silenced her internal dialogue for a moment as the man spoke again. “Which one will you choose to save?” There was a brief pause, and the meaning of his words began to sink in properly, but she found herself fading out of the conversation. She had a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach. “Your master? Or your apprentice?” She began to pant heavily, the feeling in her body somehow making it hard to breathe. Her eyelids dropped half-closed, and she felt as if she was about to pass out. That was when it hit her. She felt the dark side energy radiating from the beast. It was warping everything inside her. That was why she felt as if she was on the verge of dying. “You must now release the guilt, and free yourself, by choosing!”_

_She saw Anakin shake his head in denial, clearly refusing to believe those were his only options. “No!” He shouted with conviction, and she began to worry what would happen if he did not choose._

_“Their powers are too strong for us, Anakin! Save Ahsoka!” She perked up to oppose what Obi-Wan said, but instead let out a cry of pain as the creature’s grip closed even tighter around her arm, and she desperately tried to free herself to stop the pain, but it was far too strong. She looked over at Anakin, and she pleaded silently with him with her eyes to save Obi-Wan instead. She saw Anakin’s brows furrowed in anger, and he began to speak with more conviction than she’d ever heard him speak with before._

_“Let. Them. Go.” He looked up towards the old man, and if looks could kill, that man would’ve been incinerated from the intensity of his gaze. “Only you can make my children release them!” It was only then that she noticed the slight echo to the man’s voice. She began to question it in her mind but was otherwise distracted as the pain in her arm made itself known again. She saw Anakin close his eyes and bow his head slightly._

_“Anakin! The planet **is** the Force. Use it!” Obi-Wan shouted, and she looked over with interest as his features began to scrunch up in concentration. Slowly, Anakin’s eyes opened, and she could feel the immense Force energy enveloping him. “You will let them go!” Her eyes widened in surprise as she heard the slight deep echo to his voice, as if the Force itself spoke through him, or with him. She looked on in awe as she saw him began to ball up the massive flow of Force energy in the palm of his hands at his stomach before thrusting outwards towards both her and Obi-Wan. There was a loud gust of wind that accompanied the surge of the Force, and she fell backwards slightly as it hit her. But it wasn’t being directed onto her. _

_She looked over at the same thing happening to Obi-Wan, and then back to Anakin as he twisted his wrists to face his palm upwards, and slowly raise towards the sky to lift Obi-Wan off his feet, and she looked down to see the same thing on her end. She saw random shadows beginning to cover the ground, and she looked up at the sky in confusion before opening her eyes wide in disbelief. The sky began to change from day to night, and she could see the stars that littered the darkness of the sky. She could feel the Force rippling through the entire planet itself, and the laws of time seemed to break as the night sky finally absorbed what remained of the daylight._

_The carvings of the moon and sun on the ground lit up, and she realized the stars in the sky were being reflected onto the floor. The weird runes she hadn’t noticed before also glowed a beautiful yellow. This was incredible. She looked over at Anakin who had his hands held up on either side of him. It was like the Force itself possessed him. She’d never sensed so much raw power flowing through him, or anyone for that matter. It shouldn’t be possible to harness the Force to the degree he was. She stared at him as she witnessed this amazing event, and the way the moon light bounced off him and the wind flew through his hair almost had her entranced. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, immediately writing off whatever happened as some Force-related phenomenon._

_Suddenly she hit the ground again, and she looked up to see Anakin lower his hands to guide the Force to release both her and Obi-Wan from the creatures’ grasp. He suddenly balled up his hands and pulled his hands closer against him, and she looked up to see the two beasts being pulled towards him before he thrust his hands out again with open palms and sent them flying back into the walls on either side of the colosseum with the Force. As they collapsed, she quickly ran away to distance herself from the dark side beast and spinning around again to face it, lowering herself into a defensive stance. She could hear the flap of wings behind her, and the sound of a lightsaber being ignited, which she assumed to be Obi-Wan._

_Deciding to follow his lead, she unclipped her lightsaber from her belt and pointed it towards the bat creature as it flew towards her, getting ready to poke it full of holes. But apparently it wasn’t needed, as it suddenly froze in mid-air, and she looked over towards Anakin who had his hand held out towards it. “ **Down!** ” Again, the echo accompanied his voice as he pulled his hand back to force the creature to crash land into the ground. She looked over towards Obi-Wan who indeed also had his lightsaber pointed towards his former captor, but Anakin reached out with his left hand to force it towards him, while using the other hand to make the bat creature do the same. _

_“ **On. Your. Knees!** ” She watched awe-stricken as the creatures knelt before him, their muscles spasming as they tried to resist. She blinked, and suddenly they were a humanoid form. She looked up at the sky as night turned again to day, and then again to Anakin as he stood up straight._

_By the Force._

_If she’d ever had any doubts whether or not Anakin was in fact the Chosen One, they’d just evaporated in a puff of smoke. To be able to force the physical incarnations of both the Dark Side and the Light to kneel at his feet.. It was beyond anything she’d ever imagined._

_“And now you see who you truly are.” She walked closer towards her master as the old man appeared out of nowhere and began to speak to Anakin. “Only the Chosen One could tame both my children.” At that, she spared another glance in their direction, studying their features as they looked up at Anakin while panting. The eagle-gryphon hybrid was now a beautiful, but strange woman, with flowing green hair that like the rest of her glowed ethereally. The bat-like creature had now also taken a humanoid form, his head bald and decorated with streaks of red tattoos. She flinched a bit as she saw his eyes. Dark red pupils that glowed menacingly with jet-black sclerae instead of the usual white._

_She looked back to Anakin who had his back partially turned to the old man, looking only over his shoulder to address him. “I’ve taken your test. Now fulfill your promise and let us go.” She furrowed her brows as she looked up at Anakin’s face. He had a weird expression. Like he didn’t know what to think about what had just happened. It worried her somewhat. She’d gotten used to her master always knowing what was what. To have him display anything but unbridled confidence was just odd and borderline uncharacteristic. “Ah, but first, you must understand the truth! Now, all of you, leave us.”_

_She scowled slightly at that, not wanting to leave Anakin with this ‘man’ or whatever he was. She leaned in to whisper to him, looking him in the eye to convey the seriousness of her words. “Do not, trust him.”_

_He looked down at her and raised his shoulder with an expression she could only describe as a ‘You don’t say’ face. “You think?” She had to stop herself from reflexively smirking at his response, and she looked him over one last time before turning to leave. “I said, leave us.”_

_‘Yeah, yeah. We’re leaving.’ She shook her head as she responded in her head with her signature ‘snippy’ attitude. She didn’t like this one bit. But it was not like she had a choice anyway. She briefly glared in the direction of the no-longer-bat man before continuing to walk away with Obi-Wan._

_Whatever was happening, she knew Anakin wouldn’t cave under whatever manipulations they threw at him. He wasn’t that gullible._

_Not Anakin._

_Not her master._

_-_

She felt numb.  

She didn’t know how long she’d been this way. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. Days turned to weeks. She didn’t know how long she’d been caught up in the constant loop of torture since her attempt to try and kill Vader. Time seemed to go simultaneously fast and slow these days as she faded in and out of reality without even knowing it. Not that time had much meaning to her now, now that she was being held captive and tortured everyday by the person she used to love. Or the armored husk that carried his carcass around, anyway.

It was hard to think. Which in a way, she was grateful for. She almost preferred the constant cycle of physical pain over the mental one she had to bear with whenever she had a moment of cognizance. To not have to deal with all that had happened every time he came in and began another cycle of torture, it was almost a sweet respite from having to acknowledge everything that had happened.

Almost.

But Vader wasn’t that kind to her. The man, or rather machine didn’t have a kind bone left in what remained of his dismembered body. Her pleading and begging fell on deaf ears, and she could feel in the Force that he felt absolutely nothing while torturing her. No regret. No guilt. Just cold indifference. In fact, she’d stopped reaching out for him in the Force entirely. Whenever she opened herself up to do it, his cold dark side aura seeped through her every nerve. That alone was almost as painful as everything else he was doing. But it didn’t matter. No amount of mind probing, physical torture, or drugging could ever amount to the amount of pain she felt from having to deal with the dark thoughts inside her mind. The breaks between her torture were more painful than the torture itself.

And she knew that he knew that.

She wasn’t sure why he even bothered to do it at all. Just to remind her that he was there? To remind her that he’s the reason that this is happening to her? She didn’t know. She couldn’t think. Her mind was hazy from the pain and the drugs he’d pumped full in her system. She wasn’t sure what it was. This was the first time she’d ever been consciously aware enough to have a full thought process undisturbed by pain, drugs, or horrible memories in a long time. Usually he’d just have her tortured, and by the time he was done she’d fade into a nightmare that was just as painful as the torture she was enduring. It was always the same nightmares, as well.

Memories of Anakin.

That’s all she had left of him. Memories. And those were just bitter to her soul when faced with the reality of what he’d become. To think of the sweet, amazing spirit that Anakin was, and the hollow, sadistic monster he’d become. It was ironic, really. The one thing keeping her sane, was also what was driving her insane. She let out a silent morose puff of air in bitter amusement, but immediately recoiled as the soreness of her muscles stung her nerves once more. She needed to think about something else.

She lazily swept her half-lidded gaze over the room she was in. It was a lot like the rest of Vader’s palace. Devoid of color, and life. The interrogation chamber he’d moved her to and kept her since her revolt had black walls and a black-grated floor, with red in between. The only thing that differed from that ‘array’ of colors was the interrogation table she was strapped to. Not that it was much of an improvement. Just a dull gray, with some black thrown in. At this point, she longed for a change of scenery more than anything else. To be in the room was depressing enough by itself, let alone the dark thoughts that accompanied it.

Her stomach growled, and she dropped her head back against the steel of the half-tilted interrogation table, closing her eyes shut. She didn’t know how long it’d been since she ate something. In fact, she was pretty sure she hadn’t had so much as a bite to eat since she was strapped in here. The whole room was lined with Force-suppressors at first, but she noticed that once she began to starve and her throat began to dry, Vader had turned it off or set it to a lower setting so that she could use the Force to sustain herself. It was enough to keep her from dying, but just enough to keep her parched and starved. Just another colorful piece of torture thrown in with the rest. She was almost numb to it all by now. Occasionally she cried. But only when Vader wasn’t in the room. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Her thoughts began to drift off as the haze in her mind became more prominent, and she stared into the blackness of her eyelids until she faded into the comforting arms of sleep.

-

_She looked up at Anakin after dissecting the four battle droids that had their back turned to her, watching as he Force pulled a battle droid to him with one hand while thrusting his lightsaber into it with the other once it reached him, quickly following up by pushing it forward and into a full hallway of droids, downing about twenty-something of them with that alone._

_‘Well that’s not fair. He’s winning!’ She thought to herself, letting out a frustrated huff._

_She deflected another couple of blaster bolts back down the hallway towards the droids as they finally reached the rendezvous with Aayla and Bly, hunching down behind Aayla once she caught up for cover. She glanced over at Anakin as he ran alongside her with Rex in tow. “Nice entrance, Skywalker!” Aayla said with sarcasm decorating the tone of her voice. She looked up at Anakin who simply smirked to himself in response, seemingly very proud of himself as they continued to run and deflect blaster shots while the clones laid down suppressing fire. “How do you plan to get us out of this mess?” She finished, grunting as she cleaved a battle droid in half._

_“Well, I have a ship docking in the lower hangar – as we speak!” Her master replied in between grunts as he tore his way through the droids with a few swings of his lightsaber. They turned a sharp corner, running into a lone droid which looked at them awkwardly. “Umm.. Hold it?” It said as it raised its blaster with one hand. She smirked to herself at the humor of the situation, very amused at the droid’s child-like antics. She never knew why they programmed them to be so.. clumsy._

_The shutter door behind them slid open, revealing too many battle droids for her to even count, and more foot soldiers turning the corner. She groaned to herself internally as the droid looked behind itself. “Oh.. Haha!” It said before pointing the blaster at them with renewed confidence. Quickly igniting her lightsaber, she backed up with the rest, deflecting the blaster shots as needed before running down the next hallway. She ran up to the closed shutter door, mashing the button next to it a bit too hard before turning to look over at them. “We made it!”_

_“Gateway locked in, sir!” She heard one of the clones say over the comms. Smiling, she ran down the hallway as she led the rest towards where the ship was docked. She could hear explosions in the background, but there was no time to stop to look. They needed to get out of here before the whole ship came down. The explosions got louder as they ran, and she re-doubled her efforts to go that much faster. “It’s too late!” She heard her master shout, and she turned to look over at him after opening the next door. Her eyes widened as she saw the explosions come blasting down the hallway at rapid speeds, and she braced herself, not knowing what to do. Suddenly Anakin twirled around and thrust his open palms out towards them, and she felt herself being pushed backwards by the Force into the next room._

_The doors began to close behind them, and she quickly raised herself to a seated position, her heart beating a mile a minute as Anakin began turning around to face the flames of the explosion. “Master!” The doors closed shut, and her heart twisted as she realized what he was trying to do. She stared at the door, not knowing what to do as she could hear the faint creaking of metal bending under the force of the explosion, until finally she heart a thud against the door, accompanied by several more metallic ones. The ship continued to rock under the damage it was sustaining, and she quickly raised her left forearm to her mouth to talk into the comms, acting purely on adrenaline. “Don’t move the ship!”_

_“Are you guys alright down there?!” She heard them say through the comms, but she ignored it as she walked forward and began to mash the button several times to try and open the door. It opened less than half-way, and she looked through the gap for any sign of her master, her eyes widening once she saw him on the ground with bits of a metal door littered around his unconscious body. She quickly made a circular hole in the door with her lightsaber, allowing the metal piece to drop inwards before rushing through to drag Anakin back through._

_“Ahsoka, we have to leave now!” Aayla said, but she ignored her as she put everything she had in heaving him back. “Hurry, get him on the ship!” She heard her talk again before moving over to help drag him by his other arm. As they got through the next doorway and onto the ship, she saw Bly close the shutter door out of the peripheral of her vision, but she was completely focused on Anakin’s face. His eyes were closed, and his face was dirtied. She reached out for him in the Force and could sense him faintly clinging to life. She couldn’t believe what he’d done. He’d sacrificed himself for them. How could he be so stupid?! He could’ve died!_

_Her heart sunk at the mere thought, and her stomach churned in dread. She would never let that happen. Never. She’d protect him._

_No matter what._

_-_

She was stirred awake as she heard the shutter doors to her cell fly open, and she weakly turned her head to the side to look over towards the entrance, her insides twisting in dread as she saw Vader’s distinguishing mask. Her gaze tracked him as he walked in, the doors closing shut behind him as he moved around to stand in front of her. She willed herself to lean forward off the interrogation table to put up a display of defiance against him, and she furrowed her brow in anger as she looked up into his visors. She had to stop herself from recoiling in fear as he raised his right hand forward in front of her face, but it didn’t matter anyway as he immediately used the Force to push her head back flat against the interrogation table, and she let out a groan of pain from the impact.

She knew what was about to happen. And also that she was powerless to stop it. But she’d try, nonetheless.  She had to. Just as she thought he would, she felt the familiar presence of the Force enveloping her mind as Vader used it to probe her mind, and she reflexively tried to restore her barrier, but it crumbled just as quickly as it came. She couldn’t resist him. Not in her condition. Especially with the Force Suppressors still activated. She wondered for a moment why they only affected her and not Vader, but that line of thinking was immediately cut off as she felt him thrust into her mind, and every muscle in her body tensed from the intrusion. She felt like her head was going to explode. The pressure on her brain was immense. She couldn’t think. Only focus on not dying.

After what felt like forever, he finally eased up, and she could think once again. She breathed heavily, her entire body feeling like it just ran five marathons. She was completely exhausted, and she hadn’t even done anything. She slowly opened her eyes as her breathing caught up and looked back up at Vader who still had his hand held out. She felt his lingering presence in her mind, and it was incredibly uncomfortable. In a way it was even more uncomfortable than having her mind suffocated like he’d just done. The way he just lingered in her mind. It was like an itch she couldn’t scratch. She hated it.

Hated it immensely.

She inhaled deeply as she tried to calm down. This was what he wanted. And she couldn’t let him have it. “You’re almost ready.” He said in his deep distorted voice as he finally withdrew from her mind and lowered his hand to his sides. She let out a sigh in relief from the nuisance finally leaving her brain, before wrapping her head around what he’d just said. She perked up somewhat, still completely exhausted and in immense pain, her body sore and aching all over. But she pushed through with everything she had. He couldn’t win. He just couldn’t. “Y-You won’t..” Her voice cracked, and she forced herself to steady it. “You won’t break me..”

He ignored her as he simply walked over to the exit and waited for the door to open before exiting, but not before gesturing the mind probe droid in with a sweep of his hand. She tensed as it flew open and the doors closed shut behind Vader. She stared at the floating ball as it flew close and she braced herself for the injection, inhaling deeply and holding it as it forcibly administered it into her veins. She slowly exhaled as the drug immediately took effect, and her mind once again became a haze.

She faded into her memories as she swerved the line between consciousness and unconsciousness.

-

_“So, what’s the big rush?” She looked to her right at Anakin for a moment as he addressed Obi-Wan before beginning to idly look around, partially tuning out of the conversation as they walked while exploring their surroundings. The buildings of Coruscant were quite beautiful from down here. The glowing lights of the planet that never slept simultaneously comforted her and unnerved her. “The Jedi Council has called an emergency meeting.” She heard Obi-Wan reply, to which her master sighed. “I can see it now. Another long boring debate.”_

_She tuned back into the conversation at that, casting a glance in Anakin’s direction as she spoke. “Would you rather they call you in to train younglings?” He chuckled at her snippy remark as he looked to her with an expression of amusement. “Are you crazy?” He replied mirthfully, to which she smirked in response. He’d never been the patient sort, her master. He always preferred to be out on the front lines making a difference as opposed to passing on his knowledge or having philosophical meetings with fellow Jedi. He put the needs of others ahead of his own. He was just good, through and through. That’s part of why she liked him so much. It didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes, either. She widened her eyes in horror of her own thoughts as she looked away from him, shaking her head as a blush began to creep onto her cheeks._

_She really needed to shake this stupid teenage crush she had on him. It was getting out of hand and it was honestly beginning to distract her from her every day training. Every time she was around him she’d feel this strange feeling in her stomach. Like butterflies or—_

_Her line of thinking was cut off as a blaster bolt suddenly whipped past them and hit the ground, leaving a scorch mark. Quickly she ducked over behind some crates as the unknown assailant continued to fire towards them, while Obi-Wan ducked behind the crates adjacent to them. “Any idea where that shot came from?!” Obi-Wan shouted, and she peeked partially out of cover to scan the rooftops. Immediately, she saw the shadowed figure on top of the nearest one, and she quickly pointed it out. “A sniper! I see him up there!”_

_As if to emphasize her words, a blaster bolt came dangerously close to Obi-Wan, sparks flying off the crate in front of him as it zinged past. “Alright, here’s the plan – Anakin, you flank him on the right! Ahsoka, you cover the lower streets! I’m going after him!” She nodded in agreement simultaneously with Anakin before they all ignited their lightsaber in tandem and ran to fulfill each of their tasks. Quickly, she ran through the streets as Anakin and Obi-Wan began to scale the buildings. Finally, she came to a stop and looked up to scan the rooftops once more. “I lost him! Obi-Wan! Do you have him?!” Anakin said over the comms, and she squinted to try and spot the shooter._

_She heard a shot being discharged, and her eyes widened in horror as she heard Obi-Wan cry out before plummeting down from the rooftop and crashing into the metal crates beside her before she could react. “Obi-Wan!” She heard Anakin shout, and she quickly turned to look up at where he was._

_“I got him, go!” She shouted back up at him, and she saw him hesitate only for a split-second before looking up to where the shooter went and taking off after him. Immediately she moved over to kneel behind Obi-Wan and pull him into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to listen to his heartbeat. Her blood froze when she heard nothing, and she quickly checked his pulse, the adrenaline running wild in her veins. Her heart sunk when she felt nothing, and her eyes began to tear up as the reality of the situation began to dawn on her._

_After a moment she heard Anakin run up over to them, panting from the exertion. “How is he?!” He said out of breath, worry evident in his voice. She hesitantly turned her head to look up at Anakin, and her eyes began to tear up even more as she saw the look on his face. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find the words. She didn’t know what to say. So she just said nothing. “Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan?” She looked down sorrowfully at Obi-Wan’s closed eyes as Anakin knelt down and began to shake Obi-Wan’s body by the shoulders. “_ **OBI-WAN!** _”_

_-_

_She couldn’t believe they were at Obi-Wan’s funeral. Time had passed simultaneously slowly and unbelievably quickly after his death. She’d tried to comfort Anakin, but they’d gone entirely in silence since it happened. She looked over at Anakin standing in front of Obi-Wan’s covered body. He had his robes on top of his tunic with his hood up, which he rarely ever did. And she could see so much pain on his face. So much anger. It worried her. But she didn’t know what to do. She looked down at Obi-Wan’s body in sorrow before turning to whisper to Plo-Koon. “I’m worried about Anakin.. He hasn’t said a word since it happened..”_

_She looked back over at Anakin. She wanted so desperately to take his pain away. To hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright. But she couldn’t. Because she’d be lying. And she couldn’t lie to him. Not to him. All she could do was be there for him. But one thing was for certain._

_Things would never be the same._

_-_

She was awake again. At least, she thought she was awake again. She never really knew now. She was just in a constant flux. It all just blurred together in the haze of her mind. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to feel. She was just so numb.

She didn’t want to admit it, but Vader had all but broken her. She didn’t know how much longer she could resist him. She had nothing to fight for. No more will to resist. Surely it would just be easier to give in? What’s the point of fighting? What am I fighting for? Everything I did, was for him. For his memory. But now everyone and everything was gone. And she had no more fight left in her heart. She wondered to herself…

‘How much longer can I resist..?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's that. If you remember from my notes last chapter, I was having doubts about my original vision for the chapter, and in the end I decided not to go with it. It just felt so out of place with the rest of the story, even though that's what I was gunning for since Chapter 4. If you were wondering what I was going to do, let's just say that the 'dubious consent' tag would've been a part of the next chapter. Along with potentially Rape/Non-Con tag. So I'm sure a lot of you are glad I didn't go that route.
> 
> I decided that just torture would be enough. In the notes I had for this chapter, I wrote 'A lot of timeskips, showing Ahsoka's slow descent and refusal to break. There are memories/flashbacks between torture and time skips as she desperately latches onto memories of Anakin to comfort her'. So that's why the chapter is as it is.
> 
> I got this one out pretty quick. Only 3 days since the last one. So kind of the same amount of time in between like how I published them before Chapter 8. Won't be doing it like this again, though. This is my longest chapter yet. Ironically, I thought the memories would be the hardest to write, but it turned out to be the torture scenes instead.
> 
> Anyway, that's all I had to say. Next up, the finale. It'll probably be a while, as I have basically NOTHING planned for it except what I want the outcome to be. But I'll get it out there. Just want to say thanks for everyone who's read up to this point. I appreciate it immensely.


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